After initially scuttling Jared Isaacman’s mission to lead NASA, President Donald Trump has renominated the astronaut to lead the space agency after a dramatic White House showdown.
Isaacman, 42, a billionaire tech founder, was originally nominated by Trump to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in December 2024 before his nomination was rescinded by the White House in late May.
A close friend of Elon Musk, Isaacman was caught in the crossfire of the former DOGE leader’s summer spat with Trump, in which the Tesla founder accused the president of being in the Epstein files.
Taking Musk’s anti-Trump salvos to heart, former White House Personnel Office boss Sergio Gor, who was then in charge of Isaacman’s nomination, canceled the astronaut’s offer.
‘Sergio knifed Jared as payback for his bad feelings against Elon,’ a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Mail. ‘It was never about Jared. It was never about his qualifications.’
‘This was basically a plan by Sergio because he felt slighted by Elon, so he wanted to hurt Elon. Best way to do that was to take out Jared at NASA.’
Since then, Gor has become the US Ambassador to India, and longtime Trump aide Dan Scavino has taken over the personnel office. A representative for Gor did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
And recently, some of Isaacman’s supporters reemerged to back the billionaire’s renewed bid to lead NASA.
Billionaire tech entrepreneur and astronaut Jared Isaacman was renominated by Trump to lead NASA after the White House pulled his nomination earlier this year amid a fued with Elon Musk, who supported Isaacman’s confirmation
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (C) reportedly told Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to ‘knock it off’ after he made attempts to become NASA’s permanent boss
Critical White House players like chief of staff Susie Wiles and Vice President JD Vance recently expressed support for Isaacman to lead NASA.
Currently, the top official at NASA is Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has served as the interim boss since July.
It was widely reported that Duffy was positioning himself to keep the dual mandate and that he wanted Trump to give him leadership over NASA on a permanent basis.
However, Wiles in recent days made a ‘stern but friendly call to Duffy’ telling him to ‘knock it off,’ a source told Axios.
Wiles and Vance were among those who supported reinstating Isaacman’s nomination, a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Mail.
Before his initial launch was canceled due to the stormy relationship between Musk and Trump, Isaacman had wide bipartisan support for his nomination, which must be confirmed by the Senate.
The 42-year-old tech entrepreneur and astronaut had the support of around 80 senators before having his nomination rescinded in May, the source close to Isaacman revealed to the Daily Mail.
Still, the two-time NASA boss nominee took the rejection in stride and reportedly stayed connected to the president’s team.
Elon Musk, who recommended Isaacman to Trump, got into a messy fight with the president in June, where he accused the Republican of appearing in the unreleased Epstein files. The leader of Trump’s personnel office at the time, Sergio Gor, pulled Isaacman’s nomination soon after
Sergio Gor, former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office
According to Axios, Isaacman gave $1 million to Trump’s fundraising operations within months of having his nomination pulled.
He never mentioned the NASA job when dishing out the dough, according to the outlet.
Now that the Senate confirmation process is starting over again, the support for Isaacman should still be there, the source close to the NASA nominee told the Daily Mail.
‘There’s an existing amount of enormous support for Jared, and I expect to see that again once the process really starts.’
