White House Killed NASA Role to Punish Elon Musk, Isaacman Suggests

Billionaire investor Jared Isaacman has suggested his sudden removal from the nomination process to be President Donald Trump‘s new NASA administrator could have been a way to punish Elon Musk.

In a new podcast interview, the private spaceflight investor and ally of Musk, said Trump’s withdrawal of support for his nomination last week might have been a shot across the bow at Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) worked to reduce the size of the federal government.

“But people also hate change—like, we all know this. And people can be very protective of their empire. And when somebody comes in—you know, Elon’s got a playbook, and I think he knows how to get things done,” Isaacman told The All-In Podcast in an episode released Wednesday.

“There were some people that had some axes to grind, and I was a good visible target.”

Isaacman said that he did not blame Trump for following the advice of his inner circle regarding the nomination when faced with so many decisions every day.

“He’s got to get a lot more right than wrong, so I don’t blame, you know, an influential adviser coming in and saying ‘look here’s the facts and I think we should kill this guy.’ The president’s got to make a call and move on. I think that’s exactly how it went.”

This is a developing story. More to follow.