President Trump to withdraw nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, reports say

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Donald Trump is withdrawing the nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, according to reports from the Associated Press.

Isaacman is a well-known associate and collaborator of Elon Musk, who announced he was leaving the Trump administration earlier this week.

Jared Isaacman out to lead NASA?

What we know:

Sources with the Associated Press said on Saturday that Trump is withdrawing the nomination of Isaacman to lead NASA.

AP says the person is not being identified due to having no authorization to comment publicly on the administration’s personnel decisions. The White House and NASA did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment by the AP.

Who is Jared Isaacman?

The backstory:

Trump announced last December during the presidential transition that he had chosen Isaacman to be the space agency’s next administrator. Isaacman testified at his Senate confirmation hearing on April 9 and a vote to send his nomination to the full Senate was expected soon.

Isaacman 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.

Isaacman has been a close collaborator with Musk ever since he bought his first chartered flight on Musk’s SpaceX in 2021.

Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on February 2, 20

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Musk leaves Trump administration

Dig deeper:

It was only a few days ago that Musk announced he was stepping away from his advisory role in Trump’s administration, posting Wednesday that his time as a Special Government Employee had ended.

The billionaire entrepreneur was tasked with leading the Department of Government Efficiency — or DOGE — a Trump-created initiative aimed at reducing federal waste.

"As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," Musk posted on X, the platform he owns. "The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."

The announcement came just one day after Musk criticized Trump’s legislative centerpiece — a sweeping bill combining tax cuts with immigration enforcement — calling it "a massive spending bill" that "undermines the work" of DOGE. Speaking to CBS, Musk added, "I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful. But I don’t know if it could be both."

Trump responded to criticism on Wednesday, telling reporters, "I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it. We’re going to see what happens. It’s got a way to go."

Musk received a special send-off from the White House on Friday.

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