Trump has met with Jared Isaacman to discuss the nomination of another NASA administrator, a person familiar with the matter said. Isaacman has a close relationship with SpaceX CEO Musk and attended a dinner hosted by Trump for tech giants at the White House in September. Musk did not attend.
After a heated exchange between Musk and Trump over government spending, Trump withdrew Isaacman's nomination, calling him "a high-born Democrat who has never donated to a Republican before."
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on June 6: “I also think it would be inappropriate to put a very close friend of Elon’s who has worked in the space commercial world and NASA is a big part of Elon’s corporate life to run NASA.”
In July this year, Trump appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as the interim administrator of NASA.
Isaacman was nominated to serve as NASA administrator in December.
Isaacman is an experienced space traveler who has led SpaceX on two private space flights in 2021 and 2024. According to a 2021 filing, Shift4 has invested $27.5 million in SpaceX.
Isaacman founded payments company Shift4 in 1999 when he was 16. After his nomination was withdrawn, Isaacman resigned as CEO of the company and currently serves as executive chairman.
"I would do it all over again even if I knew the outcome," Isaacman said of NASA's nomination process in a letter to investors announcing the changes to Shif4.
Now it appears that Musk is doing it all over again, as tensions between Musk and Trump have eased in the months since.