Axios

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Saturday that the Trump administration is "about to finalize a leasing plan" to sell rights for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomberg reports.

The intrigue: Some of America's biggest banks are cutting off financing for Arctic oil and gas projects.

South Carolina's Democratic primary voters were less likely to list climate change as a top issue compared to previous nominating contests, according to the AP's VoteCast exit polls.

The big picture: Health care, climate change and the economy have been the top 3 issues in each primary to this point.

The first southern U.S. state is picking a 2020 Democratic presidential nominee on Saturday, as South Carolina voters line up at polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST.

Why it matters, via Axios' Fadel Allassan: 61% of South Carolina's Democrats are black, and Saturday's primary is the first major test of African-American support for the candidates.

South Carolina's Democrats are more in favor of a return to Obama-era politics than voters in both New Hampshire and Iowa, according to the AP VoteCast early exit polls.

Why it matters: Roughly half of black South Carolina Democratic voters say they want a presidency like Obama's. By comparison, about 2/3 of white voters want fundamental change in Washington, the AP found.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's earlier injunction on Friday, temporarily stopping the Trump administration from enforcing the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), only to be reinstated a couple of hours later, AP reports.

The state of play: After the court's initial ruling, the judges granted the Trump administration's request for an emergency stay just hours later, per The Washington Post. The Department of Justice argued there could be an influx of migrants who reach the border since 25,000 migrants have been ­waiting in Mexico, endangering national security.

South Carolina Democrats cast ballots today, the first in the South, toward picking the party's presidential nominee.

Why it matters: 61% of South Carolina's Democrats are black, and Saturday's primary is the first major test of African-American support for the candidates.

On the next episode of “Axios on HBO,” Alexi McCammond sits down for an in-depth interview with Harvey Weinstein prosecutor Cyrus Vance Jr., who discusses Weinstein’s conviction and how it could impact future sex crime cases.

Bernie Sanders is trying to rebrand socialism in the U.S., but he'll have to overcome common fears about what the word means — fears the Trump campaign is watching and waiting to exploit.

Why it matters: Sanders may face a major challenge in convincing Americans in their 40s or older that there's a meaningful difference between what he supports, described as democratic socialism, and the authoritarian socialism that we've seen in regimes like Venezuela.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Most Joe Biden admirers Axios interviewed in South Carolina, where he's vowed to win today's primary, said they're unfazed by his embarrassing losses in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

Why it matters: Biden has bet it all on South Carolina to position himself as the best alternative to Bernie Sanders — his "good buddy," he tells voters before skewering Sanders' record and ideas.

President Trump again nominated Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), in a tweet on Friday.

Catch up quick: If confirmed, Ratcliffe would eventually replace Richard Grenell, a staunch defender of Trump and former U.S. ambassador to Germany who was installed as the acting DNI only a few weeks ago. Grenell would have had to leave the post on March 11 unless Trump formally nominated someone else to oversee the U.S. intelligence community, the New York Times reports.

Democrats in the House lost an appeal to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to comply with a subpoena, Politico was the first to report.

Why it matters: McGahn was seen as a crucial witness in the House investigation into whether President Trump tried to obstruct the Mueller inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election . The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 on Friday that it did not have the authority to resolve the dispute between the executive and legislative branches.

President Trump on Friday formally announced his intent to nominate current U.S. Ambassador to Norway Kenneth Braithwaite as Navy secretary.

Flashback: Trump first floated Braithwaite's nomination in November after ousted Navy Secretary Richard Spencer reportedly told the White House that he would ensure ex-Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher — who was acquitted of war crimes and had a minor charge cleared by Trump — could retire as a SEAL as long as White House officials did not intervene.

Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, told Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Friday that he was alarmed by a whistleblower's recent allegations that federal personnel received U.S. evacuees from the coronavirus outbreak in China without adequate protective gear or training.

Driving the news: Vice President Mike Pence replaced Azar as the administration's point person for handling the coronavirus this week.

Former Vice President Joe Biden told CNN Friday morning that he had not been arrested during a 1970s trip to South Africa during which he tried to visit Nelson Mandela, despite recently claiming he had been.

Why it matters: Biden made the claim multiple times while campaigning in South Carolina, where he is trying to court a sizable base of black Democratic voters in this weekend's primary contest. The Washington Post and the New York Times questioned the credibility of the claims and could not find any official confirmation of the arrest.

Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced legislation that would tax nonqualified stock options at vesting, rather than at exercise, for employees making at least $130,000 per year.

The big picture: Select employees at private companies would be taxed on monies that they hadn't yet banked.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats are seeking interviews with four prosecutors who resigned from the Roger Stone case after the Justice Department intervened to recommend a shorter sentence for the former Trump associate.

What's happening: In a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr sent Friday, House Democrats requested interviews with 15 current and former Justice Department officials as part of an effort to investigate allegations of Trump interference into the DOJ.

A federal judge on Thursday overturned a 2018 Trump administration directive that sought to speed up energy leases on public land by limiting the amount of time the public could comment.

Why it matters: U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush's decision voids almost a million acres of leases in the West, according to The Washington Post. It's a victory for environmentalists, who tried to block the change as part of an effort to protect the habitat of the at-risk greater sage grouse.

• The ruling invalidated five oil and gas leases in Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, and affected 104,688 square miles of greater sage-grouse habitat, per The Associated Press.
• Leases in greater sage-grouse habitat will return to allowing 30 days of public comment and administrative protest.

The big picture: From Axios' Amy Harder, this is the latest in a long and convoluted list of regulatory rollbacks the Trump administration is pursuing on environmental rules that courts are, more often than not, rebutting. With Congress gridlocked on these matters, expect the courts to be the default way Trump's agenda faces checks (unless, of course, a Democrat wins the White House this November).

There's mounting evidence that people put too much trust in driver-assistance features like Tesla Autopilot, but federal regulators aren't doing enough to ensure the systems are deployed safely, experts say.

Why it matters: Nearly 37,000 Americans die each year in highway accidents. As automated features become more common, the roads could get more dangerous — not safer — if drivers use the technology in unintended ways.

Fracking is big business in some swing states, but several Democratic presidential candidates have pledged to end the controversial energy extraction process if elected. Dan and Axios' Ben Geman dig into the politics and practicality of a fracking ban.

• Go deeper: Sanders and Bloomberg break over fracking

Spending on the 2020 presidential primary has officially surpassed the $1 billion mark, with more than half of that total coming from billionaire Michael Bloomberg, according to data from Advertising Analytics.

Why it matters: It's the most money that has been spent this early on in an election cycle in U.S. history.

On the next episode of “Axios on HBO,” Roger Stone opens up about his desire to be “right with God.”

Watch the full interview on March 1 at 6 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

Six people died in a shooting at the Molson Coors Brewing Company in Milwaukee on Wednesday, including the gunman, Mayor Tom Barrett told reporters at a Wednesday evening press conference with local police.

Details: All of the victims worked at the brewery complex, as did the shooter who died of "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," police confirmed in a statement late Wednesday.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to launch a podcast in late spring, Politico reports.

Details: The currently untitled show will be co-produced by iHeartMedia and is expected feature Clinton holding conversations with guests, from world leaders to celebrities, many of whom she hopes will fit the theme of her novel "The Book of Gutsy Women," per Politico.

Go deeper: Hillary Clinton on Bernie Sanders: "Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him"