Axios

Polls closed at 8 pm local time in what looks to be a nail-biting gubernatorial runoff election in Louisiana, which pits a rare Democratic Southern governor, incumbent John Bel Edwards, against a Republican challenger, businessman Eddie Rispone.

The big picture: Saturday's contest is expected to be decided by a razor-thin margin, per FiveThirtyEight. President Trump, in an attempt to tip the balance in favor of Rispone, visited Louisiana three times in just more than a month, "directly linking the impeachment inquiry to a state election that will test his clout in the Deep South," according to the New York Times.

Go deeper: Trump leaps into Louisiana governor's race

Editor's note: This article originally stated polls closed at 9 pm, which is correct for Eastern Time but omitted to state this.

Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone held a Bible as he arrived at the federal courthouse in Washington on Friday.

The intrigue: Hours later, the self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" was convicted on all charges — guilty of seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering, Reuters reports.

Attorney General Bill Barr vehemently defended President Trump's executive authority and said Trump's opponents were "engaged in a war to cripple by any means necessary a duly elected government," in a speech before a conservative legal group Friday.

Why it matters: Barr's speech "affirmed his credentials as a staunch defender of presidential power," CNN writes. His show of public support comes amid reports that his refusal to publicly absolve the president in the Trump-Ukraine saga has fractured their relationship.

Former President Barack Obama warned 2020 Democrats to avoid moving too far to the left and tearing down the system at a meeting for the Democracy Alliance on Friday, the Washington Post reports.

“This is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement. They like seeing things improved. But the average American doesn’t think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it. And I think it’s important for us not to lose sight of that.”

President Trump issued full pardons to two Army officials and restored the rank of a Navy SEAL — each of whom had been accused or convicted of war crimes — the White House announced on Friday.

Why it matters: The intervention came despite opposition raised by military justice experts and Pentagon officials. "The moves signaled that as commander in chief, Mr. Trump intends to use his power as the ultimate arbiter of military justice," the New York Times writes.

Cenk Uygur, founder of the liberal news site The Young Turks, announced he is running to replace Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), in a tweet Thursday night.

The state of play: Uygur is also running against former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — who, in 2017, pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI about Russian contacts. The seat's previous holder Rep. Steve Knight (R), who Hill defeated in 2018, is running again as well.

Michael Bloomberg's final decision on a presidential run is "days, not weeks" away, a person familiar with his thinking tells Axios — with an announcement expected before Thanksgiving.

Driving the news: The source said the billionaire and former New York mayor's funding of a $100 million, digital, anti-Trump ad series is "a step toward running for Mike, not a step away from running," and that “he is actively preparing."

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.