Late on Saturday, President Donald Trump declared that he was rescinding his nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, a close friend of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to head NASA. He claimed to have done so following a “thorough review” of Isaacman’s “prior associations.”
An emailed request for a clarification from the White House was not immediately answered, and it was unclear what Trump meant.
“After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” Trump stated on his social media site. “I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.”
During the presidential transition in December, Trump declared that he had selected Isaacman to be the future administrator of the space agency.
Since purchasing his first chartered flight on Musk’s SpaceX firm in 2021, the 42-year-old Isaacman has been a close associate of Musk.
He founded Shift4, a credit card processing business, and serves as its CEO.
In addition, he performed the first private spacewalk and purchased a number of SpaceX spaceflights. NASA has a number of contracts with SpaceX.
Isaacman’s candidacy was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in late April, and the entire Senate was anticipated to vote shortly after.
After the news broke early Saturday, Musk seemed to regret Trump’s choice, writing on the X website that “it is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted.”
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Musk, the owner of SpaceX and a Trump campaign adviser and donor, said this week that he is leaving government after leading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, for many months. Musk is in charge of the agency, which Trump established in an effort to reduce the size of government.
Semafor was the first to announce that Isaacman’s nomination had been withdrawn by the White House.
