Announced days before the Senate’s likely confirmation of Isaacman, the withdrawal sparked a swirl of rumors and concerns, as budget cuts loom and NASA stretches into its sixth month without a leader.
Trump, in a social media post over the weekend, offered few details but said his decision was made after a “thorough review of prior associations.”
One space policy executive called the reasoning “complete bulls—.”
“That’s like the worst excuse in the world,” said the executive, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the withdrawal.
Isaacman’s nomination had already advanced through the Senate Commerce Committee in a 19-9 vote and was expected to hit the full floor this week.
“I was frankly gobsmacked,” Mark Whittington, an author who studies space, politics and policy, told The Hill. “Jared Isaacman is well regarded by just about everybody.”
Rumors quickly circulated over the weekend that the decision might have something to do with Isaacman’s ally, Elon Musk, who stepped down from his role leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last week.
Two sources close to the White House suggested Isaacman’s ties to Musk may have also contributed to his removal as the pick to lead NASA.
Musk, the sources said, rubbed many people in the administration the wrong way. And with his official departure from government, Isaacman lost a strong ally in the White House.
Isaacman worked alongside Musk at SpaceX to fund the company’s first private spacewalk, and he was one of four astronauts aboard the Polaris Dawn flight last year.
“It was a real bummer,” Isaacman said on the "All In" podcast about the decision. “It was certainly disappointing. But the president needs to have his person that he counts on to fulfill the agenda.”
“I’m not … [playing] dumb on this. I had a pretty good idea,” he added. “I don’t think the timing was much of a coincidence that there were other changes going on the same day, and it was obviously a little bit of a disappointment.”
Musk, in a series of posts criticizing Trump on Thursday, signaled his frustrations with the decision by reposting the president's initial nomination announcement in December.
Attached to the repost, he wrote, "This is what he said about Jared."
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
