Trump's former NASA pick suggests he lost nomination due to Musk ties
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Trump yanked his nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA late Saturday. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
President Trump withdrew his original pick to run NASA – Jared Isaacman – because of Isaacman's relationship with Elon Musk, Isaacman suggested on a podcast Wednesday.
Why it matters: Elon Musk has gone scorched earth on Trump and the GOP this week, with Musk gearing his attacks toward the president's centerpiece budget legislation.
- In the weeks since he's officially left the White House, Musk has publicly distanced himself from Trump.
- Sources in close communication with both Musk and Trump said that the president was somewhat irked by Musk's social media sabotage, Axios reported on Tuesday.
Driving the news: Trump yanked his nomination of Isaacman, a fintech billionaire, late Saturday.
- "I'm not going to play dumb on this – I don't think timing was much of a coincidence… there were other changes going on the same day," Isaacman said on an episode of the All-In Podcast released Wednesday.
- All-In's host, David Friedberg, then asked him directly if he "meant Elon," to which Friedberg said, "There was obviously more than one departure that was covered on that day," and that "there were some people that had some axes to grind, I guess, and I was a good visible target."
Catch up quick: The announcement came days before Isaacman was expected to be confirmed by the Senate — and the same week Musk confirmed his official exit from the administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
In his TruthSocial post, Trump said the decision to rescind Isaacman's nomination came after "a thorough review of prior associations."
- Isaacman is a close associate of Musk's, and his selection was widely considered to be a boon for Musk's company SpaceX.
- "I don't blame an influential adviser coming in and saying, 'Look, here's the facts, and I think we should kill this guy,'" Isaacman said. "And the President's got to make a call and move on."
What they're saying: Isaacman said that he doubts that his past donations to Democrats were responsible for the rescission.
- That seems to be the Trump administration's official line, per Bloomberg's report that in an email, a White House official pointed to multiple past donations that Isaacman had made to Democrats.
- Isaacman said on All-In that given his past donations have long been in the public domain, he didn't think that could be Trump's reasoning.
- Isaacman donated to Democrats as recently as 2024, records from nonprofit campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets show, and Trump nominated him that December.
