TOKYO — President Donald Trump says it would have been “inappropriate” for Jared Isaacman to lead NASA given his ties to Elon Musk and history of political donations, without offering any clues on who he might instead choose to lead the space agency.
In a July 6 post on Truth Social, the social media service affiliated with Trump, the president sharply criticized Elon Musk for announcing plans to create a new political party triggered by the passage last week of a budget reconciliation bill that Musk strongly opposed.
That criticism included a discussion of the White House’s original nominee to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman. “Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA and, while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue-blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before,” the post stated.
The statement about his political contributions is incorrect based on public records. Isaacman has donated to Republican candidates, including Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), now the chairman of the House Transportation Committee. However, more recent donations, including those in the 2024 election cycle, were to Democratic candidates and organizations. That donation history almost certainly would have been part of the vetting process for his nomination, which Trump announced in December 2024.
Isaacman has also pushed back on claims, advanced by Democratic senators during the confirmation process, that he is close friends with Musk. “I do not have a close personal relationship with Mr. Musk,” he said in written responses to questions for the record after his April 9 confirmation hearing, calling his relationship with Musk “professional.” He also denied that Musk had contacted him about leading NASA, saying that his interactions were with the Trump transition team.
Trump, in his social media post, appeared to echo concerns by Democrats during the confirmation process about potential conflicts of interest regarding someone with at least some ties to SpaceX — Isaacman flew two private astronaut missions on SpaceX spacecraft — leading the agency.
“I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life,” Trump stated. He did not state why he didn’t raise those concerns earlier, particularly when praising Isaacman at the time he nominated him.
“Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new Space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era,” Trump wrote in December.
In that statement, he offered no information on who might instead choose to lead NASA. When Trump announced May 31 he was withdrawing Isaacman’s nomination, he said only that he would “soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned.” More than a month later, he has yet to announce a new nominee.
At a NASA employee town hall meeting June 25, Brian Hughes, a White House political appointee serving as NASA chief of staff, said it could be six to nine months before a new nominee is announced and confirmed by the Senate.
“I think the best guess would tell you that it’s hard to imagine it happening before the next six months, and could perhaps go longer than that into the eight- or nine-month range,” he said, adding that the timeline could be accelerated if “the administration asks for bumping ahead of the Senate process” for confirmation of a nominee once announced.
Janet Petro, the director of the Kennedy Space Center who has been NASA’s acting administrator since Jan. 20, said she would remain on the job for the foreseeable future. “I want you to know that I will continue to lead NASA until a new leader is installed, and I take that responsibility to heart,” she said at the town hall.
