👀 Axios PM: New Epstein talker

Good afternoon! Today's newsletter, edited by Natalie Daher, is 686 words, a 2.5-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

President Trump made Jeffrey Epstein-related headlines out of a televised meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer today about trade and Gaza.

• Trump said he won't rule out pardoning convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022.
• He said he never had "the privilege" of traveling to convicted sex offender Epstein's island, Little St. James, emphasizing he "did turn it down."

🏛️ The big picture: Even as Trump has tried to distract from the Epstein saga, it's dominated headlines and consumed all three branches of government.

• He's become "increasingly frustrated" with his administration's handling of the anger around the Justice Department's decision not to release the Epstein files, The Washington Post reports.
• "His exasperation follows weeks of missteps and no clear strategy among top officials who underestimated the outrage, especially from the president's base, and hoped the country would forget about the unreleased Epstein files and move on," The Post reports, citing a dozen sources close to the situation.

⚖️ The intrigue: Maxwell pressed ahead with an appeal to the Supreme Court today, seeking to overturn her conviction on the grounds that she was unlawfully prosecuted for sex trafficking minors with Epstein, Axios' Marc Caputo reports.

• The filing by Maxwell comes just three days after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney tapped to re-examine the Epstein case.

Go deeper: Why Ghislaine Maxwell is suddenly at the center of the Epstein case

It's not just college kids standing in line for a few extra bucks these days — there's a sudden surge in CEOs taking on entire companies for the short term, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes from a new survey out today.

• Why it matters: Dipping in and out of the C-suite is quickly becoming the next workplace revolution after five years of constant changes on where we work, how we do our jobs and whether humans are even needed anymore.

💬 More executives "are embracing the increasingly attractive option of short-term CEO roles, essentially participating in a 'CEO gig economy,'" the firm's Andy Challenger said in a statement.

• "Many of these leaders, some of whom stepped away after guiding organizations through the pandemic, are now returning on their own terms."

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1. 🚨 President Trump said he'll shorten the 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face heavy sanctions. Go deeper.

• Trump also disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that there is no starvation in Gaza and called for more food aid.

2. 🗳️ Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) officially launched his Senate campaign today, as Axios scooped.

3. 🗞️ Trump asked a judge to quickly depose billionaire Rupert Murdoch in his defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its Epstein report, Reuters reports.

4. 🏈 University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders revealed he underwent surgery for bladder cancer and beat it. He plans to coach the Buffaloes this season, ESPN reports.

Great Recession bangers are making a comeback, even if we're not in a recession, Axios' Avery Lotz writes.

• Pop songs by Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga made up the highest-growth genre this year for tracks released in 2007–2012, according to entertainment data firm Luminate.
• Tracks seeing a big resurgence in streams include Mars' "Just the Way You Are" (2010); Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." (2009); and Gaga's "Poker Face" (2008).

🕺 Joe Bennett, a forensic musicologist and a professor at Berklee College of Music, tells Axios there's a historic pattern of escapist music popping up during economic downturns.

• Case in point: Ginger Rogers' 1933 performance of "We're in the Money" — out during the Great Depression — was "about as escapist as you can get," he notes.
• Around the time of the 1953 recession, rock 'n' roll — and "Rock Around the Clock's" message of "literally partying all night" — was born.

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