Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

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• For years, President Trump was friends with Jeffrey E. Epstein, the billionaire charged with sex trafficking, once calling him a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do.” While Mr. Trump has since dismissed the relationship, Mr. Epstein has played it up.

• Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta on Tuesday faced fresh calls to resign over his role in brokering a lenient plea deal for Mr. Epstein as a federal prosecutor in Miami more than a decade ago. But the president has decided to stand by Mr. Acosta, saying he felt “badly” for him and praising him as “an excellent secretary of labor.”

• A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Mr. Trump has been violating the Constitution by blocking people from following his Twitter account because they criticized or mocked him. The ruling could have broader implications for how the First Amendment applies to the social-media era.