Trump says he’s withdrawing the nomination of Musk associate Jared Isaacman to lead NASA
The Hindu
Trump withdraws Jared Isaacman's NASA nomination due to "prior associations," plans to announce new nominee aligned with mission.
President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he is withdrawing the nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, an associate of Mr. Trump adviser Elon Musk, to lead NASA, saying he reached the decision after a “thorough review" of Mr. Isaacman's "prior associations.”
It was unclear what Mr. Trump meant and the White House did not immediately respond to an emailed request for an explanation.
“After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media site. “I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.”
Mr. Trump announced in December during the presidential transition that he had chosen Mr. Isaacman to be the space agency's next administrator. Mr. Isaacman, 42, has been a close collaborator with Mr. Musk ever since buying his first chartered flight on Musk's SpaceX company in 2021.
He is the CEO and founder of Shift4, a credit card processing company. He also bought a series of spaceflights from SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk. SpaceX has extensive contracts with NASA.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved Mr. Isaacman's nomination in late April and a vote by the full Senate was expected soon.
Mr. Musk appeared to lament Mr. Trump's decision after the news broke earlier Saturday, posting on the X site that, “It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted.”
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