WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is withdrawing the nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, a person familiar with the administration’s personnel decisions said Saturday.
The individual was not authorized to comment publicly. The White House and NASA did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
Trump announced last December during the presidential transition that he had chosen Isaacman to be the space agency’s next administrator.
Isaacman is the CEO and founder of Shift4, a credit card processing company. He also bought a series of spaceflights from SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk.
Isaacman testified at his Senate confirmation hearing on April 9 and a vote to send his nomination to the full Senate was expected soon.
SpaceX is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump supporter and adviser who announced this week that he is leaving the government after several months at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Trump created the agency to slash the size of government and put Musk in charge.
Semafor was first to report that the White House had decided to pull Isaacman’s nomination.
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