Trump pulled his NASA administrator nominee from consideration before Musk feud

A day after the White House held a farewell press conference for SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to highlight his efforts as outgoing leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Donald Trump suddenly pulled Musk ally Jared Isaacman as his pick for NASA administrator.

While the White House released a May 30 video chronicling Musk’s contributions to DOGE and several X posts thanking him and listing various “DOGE wins,” the gestures were some of the last, final public actions of goodwill between Trump and Musk. 

On Saturday, Trump announced in a social media post he was pulling the nomination for Isaacman, a commercial astronaut and founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments after “a thorough review of prior associations.” 

Trump also said he would unveil a “new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.” 

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Isaacman’s affiliations with Musk include being an investor in SpaceX, in addition to leading two private spaceflight missions with SpaceX, including Inspiration4. The 2021 Inspiration4 mission was the first time an all-civilian crew orbited Earth. 

Isaacman addressed his pulled nomination in an episode of the “All-In Podcast,” which is hosted by four venture capitalists and covers business, technology and society, that dropped Wednesday. Specifically, Isaacman said he received a call from the White House May 30 notifying him his nomination wouldn’t advance because the White House had “decided to go in a different direction.” 

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Isaacman said he suspected his ties to Musk were part of the decision, noting the call came the same day Musk’s tenure with DOGE concluded. 

“I don’t need to play dumb on this,” Isaacman said in the podcast. “I don’t think that the timing was much of a coincidence, that there were other changes going on the same day.

“There were some people that had some axes to grind, I guess, and I was a good, visible target.” 

Tensions between Musk and Trump continued to escalate after Musk’s departure as a special government employee May 30 and Isaacman’s withdrawn nomination the following day. 

Although Musk previously told CBS News in an interview clip released May 27 that he was disappointed by the House’s passage of Trump’s massive tax and spending package, the “big, beautiful bill,” because it would increase the federal deficit, Musk’s attacks on the measure ramped up exponentially after Trump rescinded Isaacman’s nomination. 

Specifically, on Tuesday, Musk labeled the measure a “disgusting abomination” and followed up by urging the American public to contact lawmakers to “KILL the BILL” in an X post Wednesday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that Trump was aware of Musk’s position on the bill and that it didn’t change the president’s stance on the measure. And Trump did not mince words Thursday as tensions between the two men reached a boiling point. 

Trump said Musk was irritated with provisions in the bill that would cut an electric vehicle tax credit that benefits companies like Tesla. He also suggested Musk may suffer from “Trump derangement syndrome,” a term used to describe deeply negative reactions to the president. 

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“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 

“He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate because that’s billions and billions of dollars, and it really is unfair.”

Trump also specifically mentioned Isaacman’s nomination, claiming Musk recommended Isaacman for the role. But Trump voiced concern about Isaacman’s ties to the Democratic Party. 

“He wanted and rightfully, you know, he recommended somebody that he, I guess, knew very well. I’m sure he respected him, but to run NASA,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “And I didn’t think it was appropriate. And he happened to be a Democrat, like, totally Democrat. And I say, you know, look, we won. We get certain privileges. And one of the privileges is we don’t have to appoint a Democrat. NASA is very important.”

Trump then said he “understood” why Musk was upset over the pulled nomination.

The White House directed Fox News Digital to Trump’s comments Thursday and Isaacman’s previous donations to Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. 

Isaacman told the “All-In Podcast” he doesn’t think his past political donations to Democrats were a factor in his pulled nomination, and that he identifies as “right-leaning.” 

Isaacman and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Trump and Musk continued to trade barbs Thursday. At one point, Musk urged the removal of the “disgusting pork” included in Trump’s tax and spending bill. He also said it was “false” that he was shown the measure “even once.” 

Musk even went so far as to say Trump wouldn’t have won the 2024 election if it weren’t for Musk’s backing. Meanwhile, Trump accused Musk of going “CRAZY” over cuts to the EV credits and said Musk was “wearing thin.” 

Although Politico reported that Trump and Musk were slated to speak Friday over the phone, Trump shut down speculation of a call between the two. 

“No. I won’t be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well,” Trump said, according to CNN. 

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 “I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump said.

Despite Musk’s departure, White House officials have said DOGE’s efforts to address waste, fraud and abuse will continue, and Trump and cabinet members will oversee DOGE. The agency is expected to formally shut down July 4, 2026.