Donald Trump's impeachment defence team will include a controversial lawyer with a history representing men like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, as well as one who was a prominent figure in the most recent presidential impeachment in the 1990s.

Ken Starr, the former independent counsel who led the investigation that led to the impeachment Bill Clinton, has signed on and will reportedly help present constitutional arguments to the Senate when Mr Trump's impeachment trial begins in earnest next week.

Working alongside him is a team that includes defence attorney Alan Dershowitz, the controversial lawyer who has made a name for himself with high-profile clients who have or do include Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and OJ Simpson. Mr Dershowitz's controversial past clients have reportedly given some in the White House pause, but ultimately Mr Trump took a liking to him after seeing him numerous times on TV, according to Axios.

The legal team has been formed to represent the president as he faces charges of abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to launch an investigation into a potential 2020 presidential rival, and of obstructing Congress during the hearings in the House that ultimately resulted in Mr Trump becoming the third president in US history to be impeached.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Mr Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow have been tasked with leading the team, which includes other prominent lawyers including Robert Ray and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. Mr Ray succeeded Mr Starr as independent counsel in 1999 and filed the final reports on the Whitewater scandal, which formed the basis of the investigation that led to Mr Clinton's impeachment. Ms Bondi is a well-known backer of the president with a penchant for publicity, and has reportedly been called on to act as the public face of the defence team.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

"The president asked me to do this, and the legal team asked me to do this," Mr Dershowitz said on Friday morning during an interview with CNBC.

Mr Trump's Senate impeachment trial is set to start on Tuesday, after House impeachment managers read the charges they have approved on Thursday.

While the impeachment drama in the Senate has been kept to a minimum so far — the highlight of the mostly sombre proceedings on Thursday came when Chief Justice John Roberts, who is overseeing the affair, seemingly forgot to gavel the Senate out of session — that is likely not to last.

In the months since House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced their investigation into Mr Trump's apparent effort to leverage American foreign aid to Ukraine to compel that country's government to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his family, the White House and Mr Trump's lawyers have remained relatively quiet on the president's side of the story.

While Mr Trump has spoken out loudly and frequently to claim he has done nothing wrong, it will be up to his lawyers in the Senate to provide a compelling argument for why the president used his powers in the way he did.

It will mark the first time that lawyers representing the president will directly engage in the process, after Mr Trump declined to send his legal team to the House Judiciary Committee hearings as they investigated the allegations against the president. In their stead, Republican lawmakers have been forced to defend the president themselves, and have in the process underscored an unwavering support for Mr Trump through this process.