The White House on Saturday said it will pull the nomination of tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator.
“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,” a White House spokesperson told NewsNation partner The Hill.
The Senate was slated to vote on his nomination in the coming days.
Isaacman worked alongside tech billionaire Elon Musk at SpaceX to fund the company’s first private spacewalk, and he was one of four astronauts aboard the Polaris Dawn flight this fall. He is also the founder and CEO of Shift4, a payment processing company.
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President Trump announced Isaacman as his pick to lead the space administration in December, describing him as “ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era.”
Isaacman testified before the Senate in April as a part of the confirmation process. He advanced out of committee in a 19-9 vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed for cloture to vote on Isaacman’s nomination on May 22. It is not immediately clear why the president pulled his nomination on Saturday. The move was first reported by Semafor.
In early April, Isaacman contradicted Musk about space travel priorities. The commercial astronaut told senators he would focus on returning people to the moon, rather than Mars, which has been a priority of Musk’s for some time.
“I’d like nothing more than to see … Americans walking on the moon,” he said during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing.
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This is the latest of a number of nominations Trump has pulled since returning to the White House. He pulled his original nominee for surgeon general earlier this month.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who was nominated to serve as U.N. ambassador, was withdrawn from consideration in April amid tight margins in the GOP-controlled House. Trump eventually tapped Mike Waltz to be the country’s U.N. ambassador after taking him out of the national security advisor role, now filled by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
At least one Republican lawmaker has already opposed pulling Isaacman’s nomination.
“Astronaut and successful businessman @RookIsaacman was a strong choice by President Trump to lead NASA. I was proud to introduce Jared at his hearing and strongly oppose efforts to derail his nomination,” first-term Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) wrote in a Saturday post on social media platform X.
Earlier on Saturday, far-right influencer Laura Loomer had reported that “deep state operatives” were attempting to prevent Isaacman from serving at the helm of NASA.
