Axios

President Trump's private lawyers asked Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday to stay an appeals court decision giving the House Oversight and Reform Committee the OK to subpoena the president's personal and business financial records.

The big picture: The request comes a day after Trump asked the Supreme Court to keep his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, from turning over his tax returns to the Manhattan district attorney. Trump has filed at least three lawsuits to block the release of his tax returns.

Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified Friday in the House's second public impeachment hearing.

Driving the news: Trump took to Twitter as Yovanovitch testified to attack her diplomatic career, saying that everywhere she served "went bad." House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) read the tweets directly to Yovanovitch about 20 minutes after Trump posted them.

Democratic lawmakers are disputing the legality of Chad Wolf's appointment as acting Homeland Security secretary and immigration hardliner Ken Cuccinelli as his deputy, asking the U.S. Comptroller General for an expedited review. 

Why it matters: If the argument set forth by two House committee chairs on Friday prevails, it could give Democrats a path to try to block the ascension of Cuccinelli, or more broadly to seek to invalidate months of agency actions.

House Intelligence Committee Republicans attempted to defy the rules set out by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman, at the start of their questioning period for former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch during Friday's impeachment hearing.

What happened: The GOP's ranking member, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), attempted to yield time to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for questions, but Schiff shut the move down despite Republicans' protestations because it was a breach of the inquiry's agreed upon-rules.

A jury found longtime Trump associate Roger Stone found guilty on seven counts that include obstruction, giving false statements to a House committee and witness tampering on Friday, following the conclusion of a federal trial on charges related to the Mueller investigation.

Context: Stone, 67, was indicted in January. He lied to Congress about his efforts to learn more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said that a Twitter attack from President Trump in the midst of her impeachment testimony on Friday was "very intimidating."

The state of play: House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) read the tweets directly to Yovanovitch about 20 minutes after Trump posted them, adding that "some of us here take witness intimidation very seriously."

Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said she felt threatened by President Trump's mention of her in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The backdrop: In the memo summarizing the call, Trump called Yovanovitch — whom he referred as "the woman" — "bad news" and added that she would "go through some things."

President Trump attacked former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in a pair of tweets as she testified Friday in the House's impeachment inquiry.

Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.

Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is testifying Friday in the House's impeachment inquiry.

Why it matters: As in her closed-door deposition, Yovanovitch specifically pushed back on a number of unsubstantiated allegations that led to her ouster as ambassador, including a claim that she undermined President Trump's orders during her time in her post.

The White House released Friday a memorandum summarizing the transcript of an April call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The big picture: The call took place hours after Zelensky won Ukraine's elections. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that it "barely resembled" the July 25 call now at the center of the impeachment inquiry and that it was 'very brief,' and aimed mostly at offering introductory pleasantries."

The North Korean government described Joe Biden on Thursday as a "rabid dog" that is "greedy for power."

Why it matters: On the 2020 trail, Biden has levied attacks against President Trump's North Korea policy and frequently called the country's leader Kim Jong-un a "murderous dictator."

Opening Day of the impeachment hearings hardly hit blockbuster status, generating middling viewer interest compared with other Trump-era political hearings.

Why it matters: Democrats are banking on the public spectacle of the hearings to shift more independents and Republicans in favor of impeaching President Trump — but new data about Wednesday's hearing shows the difficulty in capturing the attention of a nation that's developed a higher tolerance for permanent political drama under the current president.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is narrowing Joe Biden's longtime lead with black Democrats in the crowded 2020 primary field.

Why it matters: Since 1992, no Democrat has won the party's presidential nomination without a majority of the black vote. Black voters are expected to cast one in four primary ballots in the 2020 election, per an NBC News analysis.

After weeks of venting their frustrations over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s negotiating tactics on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), current and former administration officials close to the trade talks tell Axios they’re feeling more optimistic than ever that Pelosi is close to agreeing to a deal. 

Why this matters: USMCA is Trump’s top legislative priority and represents billions in trade between America’s closest neighbors. 

Officials apprehended more than 42,000 people at the U.S.-Mexico border last month, Customs and Border Patrol commissioner Mark Morgan said on Thursday, per CNN.

Why it matters: The number of apprehensions has continued to drop since its peak of 133,000 earlier this year. Morgan pointed to a 14% dip since September, CNN notes.

There were between 3.9 million to 4.8 million unauthorized immigrants living in Europe as of 2017, according to new analysis from Pew.

The flipside: The study shows virtually no illegal immigration to countries like Hungary and Poland, where political leaders have seized upon widespread antipathy to immigration.