President Trump is meeting Tuesday with the leader of America’s oldest ally in the Pacific, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., at the White House.

Marcos, the first leader of South Asian nations to visit the Trump White House, is looking to talk trade, after Trump put a 20 percent levy on the nation starting Aug. 1.

As the leaders met the press in the Oval Office, Trump described the Jeffrey Epstein controversy consuming Washington as a “witch hunt,” and said the Justice Department and others should instead focus on what he said was a conspiracy by former President Obama to manipulate intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In Congress, the Epstein saga has ground the House to a halt. Speaker Mike Johnson made it clear any votes on related resolutions would not make it to the House floor until September. The House majority whip’s office on Tuesday morning cut the week short, saying the chamber’s last votes before summer recess would be Wednesday.

An a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee voted Tuesday to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender and longtime Epstein associate, as the Republicans on Capitol Hill push for the publication of more information related to Epstein’s case.

The Senate is considering whether to forgo some of its August recess to vote on more Trump nominees, as the president has pressured the Senate GOP to do.

For your reading list:

• Wielding influence and fear, Trump is most powerful president in decades
• Trump’s vein diagnosis gives rare glimpse into health issues
• 5 things to know about the Texas special session on redistricting

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