A top White House official had to intervene as MAGA figures engaged in a behind-the-scenes battle to become the next leader of NASA, according to a report.
President Donald Trump ended weeks of speculation on Tuesday by announcing that he has renewed his nomination of billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to be the next NASA administrator, instead of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has been serving as NASA’s acting administrator.
Duffy, a former reality TV star, was reportedly extremely desperate to secure the job permanently and was accused of leaking unflattering stories about Isaacman to boost his own chances. Duffy or his team allegedly handed a 67-page manifesto to Ars Technica and Politico, detailing Isaacman’s apparent plans to completely reorganize NASA.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, whom Trump refers to as the “Ice Maiden,” stepped in to cool tensions between the two, delivering a “stern but friendly call to Duffy” telling him to “Knock it off,” a source told Axios.
A senior White House official denied the claims about Wiles’ intervention, telling the Daily Beast: “This is not true.”
Wiles, a longtime aide to the president who was the co-head of Trump’s 2024 campaign, told Fox News in March that she prefers to work quietly behind the scenes to “keep the trains on the tracks.”
Isaacman, the founder of the payment processing company Shift4 Payments and a close ally of Elon Musk, was in the running for the position earlier this year before Trump withdrew his nomination. That came during the period when Trump and Musk publicly fell out.
On Monday, just before Trump announced he would again nominate Isaacman to head the space agency, stories about “Project Athena” were published, describing Isaacman’s potential dramatic restructuring of NASA.
The plan includes shifting more missions to the private sector, focusing on NASA leading the world in human space exploration, and operating the agency more like a business than a science-led institution.
Isaacman, who has flown two missions to space with Musk’s SpaceX, gave the confidential proposal to Duffy this summer, sources told Politico, and never intended for it to be made public.
Ars Technica’s Eric Berger described the leak as an attempt by Duffy to “either hold onto the high-profile job or, at the very least, prejudice the re-nomination of Isaacman to lead the space agency.”
In a Tuesday Truth Social post, Trump said that Duffy did an “incredible job” while leading NASA on an interim basis, while confirming that he is nominating Isaacman for the job permanently.
“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 a post on X thanking Trump, Isaacman wrote: “To the innovators building the orbital economy, to the scientists pursuing breakthrough discoveries and to dreamers across the world eager for a return to the Moon and the grand journey beyond—these are the most exciting times since the dawn of the space age—and I truly believe the future we have all been waiting for will soon become reality.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Duffy’s office for comment.
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