Deirdre Walsh

Rep Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead House impeachment manager, said Wednesday, "We're trying this case to two juries: the Senate and the American people."

It's not just the prosecutors who are approaching the Senate trial as having two distinct audiences.

Updated at 1:57 a.m. ET on Wednesday

After more than 12 hours of action Tuesday, the Senate adopted the ground rules for the coming weeks in President Trump's impeachment trial. It brought a reminder that even this highly scripted ordeal may include a few surprises after all.

Updated at 1:50 a.m. ET Wednesday

After a long day and night of dueling between the House managers calling for impeachment and attorneys for President Trump declaring the articles of impeachment "ridiculous," the Senate adopted a set of rules that will govern its impeachment trial, in which opening arguments will get underway Wednesday.

The resolution, put forward by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calls for each side to receive up to 24 hours to argue their case, spread over three days.

Updated on Jan. 22 at 1:54 p.m. ET

The seven legislators who will act as the prosecution team presenting the House Democrats' case in the Senate trial make up a diverse group with a common link: strong legal backgrounds.

"The emphasis is on litigators. The emphasis is on comfort level in the courtroom," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the team that is a mix of some familiar faces from the House inquiry and some lesser-known members.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she expects to release her hold on the two articles of impeachment against President Trump "soon," but for now, she is still holding out to learn more about how Republicans plan to conduct a Senate trial.

"No, I'm not holding them indefinitely," Pelosi told reporters Thursday at a weekly press conference. "I'll send them over when I'm ready. That will probably be soon."

Updated at 12:03 p.m. ET Thursday

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she plans to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate once she has more information about the contours of a Senate trial.

"We would like to see a fair process and we will be ready for whatever it is," Pelosi said Thursday, making it clear it was a matter of time.

Updated at 10:01 a.m. ET

The House is poised to impeach President Trump — thus making him the third president to go down in the history books with a majority of representatives voting that he is guilty of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" as set out in the Constitution.

House Democrats are moving closer to impeaching President Trump with two big developments this week — the release of the House Intelligence Committee's report summarizing their investigation and the Judiciary Committee holding its first hearing.

Updated on November 18 at 4:30 p.m. ET

The House impeachment inquiry begins its second week of public hearings with the Intelligence Committee scheduled to hear testimony from nine more witnesses over three days.

Updated 9:07 a.m. ET

A State Department aide testifying behind closed doors on Friday confirmed to House impeachment investigators that he overheard President Trump asking a top U.S. diplomat about political investigations that he was seeking from the president of Ukraine.

The official, David Holmes, was the aide mentioned Wednesday by William Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, as having overheard a phone call between Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and Trump.

Updated on Nov. 13 at 8:49 a.m. ET

Public impeachment hearings begin Wednesday, and the first round of witnesses includes three career public servants who have testified behind closed doors that President Trump did link military aid and a White House meeting for Ukraine with a promise to investigate one of the president's domestic political opponents.

Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET

The impeachment inquiry enters a new open phase with a House vote on a resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry. The measure drafted by House Democrats lays out the ground rules for public hearings, provides procedures for the president and his counsel to respond to evidence and sets out the process for considering articles of impeachment in the Judiciary Committee and the full House.

House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a draft resolution intended to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Among other steps, the draft authorizes the chair of the House Intelligence Committee to conduct open hearings. It also grants the ranking Republican on the committee the authority to issue subpoenas — with the concurrence of the Democratic chair.

Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET

Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told three House committees in a closed deposition that President Trump pressured the State Department to remove her from her post, according to prepared remarks reported by multiple outlets.

New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins is resigning, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.

Collins is expected to appear in court tomorrow and multiple news organizations have reported he is expected to plead guilty to charges involving insider trading.

Collins was the first House Republican to endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

His resignation will not take effect until the House meets in a pro forma session on Tuesday.

Lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill on Monday after an extended summer recess with a short window to tackle major legislative priorities before the 2020 presidential campaign takes center stage.

Updated on Jan. 8 at 5:30 p.m. ET

The recent stream of Republicans announcing plans to retire in 2020 means GOP lawmakers may be losing hope that there is a path to retaking the majority in the House of Representatives next November.

So far, 29 House GOP lawmakers have announced they will not run for reelection. Four of them are seeking other offices.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is ignoring Democrats' efforts to pressure him into calling the Senate back from recess to vote on gun legislation to expand background checks following back to back mass shootings.

But there is movement among some Republican lawmakers, who are calling for action on some gun control measures.

Updated at 5:35 p.m. ET

The House of Representatives failed to override President Trump's veto on a congressional resolution blocking his national emergency declaration. That executive proclamation paved the way for the administration to spend billions of dollars to construct a barrier along the Southwest border between the U.S. and Mexico after Congress refused to approve the full amount the White House demanded last year.

Updated at 3:27 p.m. ET

Just hours after Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., cautioned against moving toward impeaching President Trump, a freshman Democrat profanely vowed to remove the president.

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the two women who made history for being sworn in as the first Muslim women in Congress, told supporters Thursday night:

House Democrats are promising to start 2019 with a familiar pledge: They want to drain the swamp.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who plans to run for speaker, announced Tuesday that Democrats plan to use their majority in the House to act as a check on President Trump and on corruption in Washington.

Keeping control of the House would validate President Trump's governing style and mean full speed ahead for Hill Republicans to move his agenda. But if the GOP loses its majority it will need to to go on defense to protect Trump.

When the Democrats lost the House in 2010, they rapidly saw President Barack Obama's legislative agenda die.

Veteran Democratic strategist Paul Begala doesn't think it's hyperbolic to say that "everything" is at stake for Democrats heading into Tuesday's elections.

"They always say it's the most important election of your life," he says, explaining that in the past two years, Democrats learned the consequences of being "completely shut out" as the GOP controlled both Congress and the White House.

If Democrats fail to take back the House and make significant gains at the state level, they'll be shut out again, without a say in legislation and judicial appointments.

Updated at 11:53 p.m. ET

Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were in high school, rejected an ultimatum given by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley had called for Ford's attorneys to respond by 10 p.m. ET Friday to a request for her to testify before the panel next week. If they did not reply, Grassley said, the committee would move ahead with a vote on Kavanaugh's nomination on Monday.

Updated at 8:20 p.m. ET

Attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school party in the 1980s, have begun discussing terms of her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

"She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety," Debra Katz, Ford's lawyer says in an email to committee aides first reported in the New York Times and confirmed by NPR.

Updated at 8:07 p.m. ET

Can the Senate Judiciary Committee enlist the FBI to investigate the claims of sexual assault brought by an accuser against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, nominee to the Supreme Court?

The short answer: No.

The long answer: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on Wednesday that she thinks the committee must look into the allegations by Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her three decades ago.

UPDATED 6:46 p.m. ET

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh strongly pushed back on an allegation of sexual misconduct from more than 30 years ago. The allegation was made in a letter by a woman who said the incident took place in high school.

"I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time," Kavanaugh said in a statement.

Updated at 12:05 p.m. ET

The late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has returned to the U.S. Capitol one last time on Friday to lie in state in the rotunda, where only 30 other people have lain since the practice began in 1852.