Just one day after Elon Musk’s public departure from his role as a White House employee, the Trump Administration pulled its nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to become the new NASA Administrator. First reported earlier on Saturday by Semafor, citing anonymous sources, the move has been confirmed by White House spokesperson Liz Huston.
The New York Times reports, based on three unnamed sources, that Trump “told associates he intended to yank Mr. Isaacman’s nomination after learning that he had donated to prominent Democrats,” including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Isaacman, the billionaire founder and CEO of a payments company, Shift4, has purchased several spaceflights from Musk’s SpaceX. He flew on the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, and again last year on Polaris Dawn, completing the first commercial spacewalk.
As noted by Space.com, the White House also released an in-depth version of its NASA budget request for 2026 on Friday, proposing to cut its funding by nearly one-quarter, from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion, with funding for science programs dropping by 47 percent. In a statement released Friday, The Planetary Society called the budget justification “an extinction-level event for the space agency’s most productive, successful, and broadly supported activity: science,” that “wastes billions in prior taxpayer investment and slams the brakes on future exploration.”
Now, without Isaacman in place, Ars Technica quotes an unnamed former senior NASA leader who said the request is “just a going-out-of-business mode.”
In a statement emailed to media outlets including NBC, Huston wrote, “It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon.” Despite being unable to confirm to the Senate whether Musk had been a part of his job interview, he had appeared set for an approval vote to replace former Florida Senator Bill Nelson. According to the NYT, Isaacman was informed of the decision on Friday and declined to comment when reached by phone.