Jared Isaacman, the nominee for NASA administrator, was booted by the White House Saturday. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Isaacman’s affiliations with Musk include being an investor in SpaceX, in addition to leading two private spaceflight missions with SpaceX, including Inspiration4. The 2021 Inspiration4 mission was the first time an all-civilian crew orbited Earth.
Isaacman addressed his pulled nomination in an episode of the "All-In Podcast," which is hosted by four venture capitalists and covers business, technology and society, that dropped Wednesday. Specifically, Isaacman said he received a call from the White House May 30 notifying him his nomination wouldn’t advance because the White House had "decided to go in a different direction."
DOGE STAFFING SHAKEUP AS ELON MUSK HANGS UP HIS HAT, WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS
Isaacman said he suspected his ties to Musk were part of the decision, noting the call came the same day Musk’s tenure with DOGE concluded.
"I don’t need to play dumb on this," Isaacman said in the podcast. "I don’t think that the timing was much of a coincidence, that there were other changes going on the same day.
"There were some people that had some axes to grind, I guess, and I was a good, visible target."
Tensions between Musk and Trump continued to escalate after Musk’s departure as a special government employee May 30 and Isaacman’s withdrawn nomination the following day.
Elon Musk receives a golden key from President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, May 30, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
Trump then said he "understood" why Musk was upset over the pulled nomination.
The White House directed Fox News Digital to Trump's comments Thursday and Isaacman's previous donations to Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Isaacman told the "All-In Podcast" he doesn’t think his past political donations to Democrats were a factor in his pulled nomination, and that he identifies as "right-leaning."
Isaacman and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Trump and Musk continued to trade barbs Thursday. At one point, Musk urged the removal of the "disgusting pork" included in Trump’s tax and spending bill. He also said it was "false" that he was shown the measure "even once."
Musk even went so far as to say Trump wouldn’t have won the 2024 election if it weren’t for Musk's backing. Meanwhile, Trump accused Musk of going "CRAZY" over cuts to the EV credits and said Musk was "wearing thin."
President Donald Trump is joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and his son, X Musk, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House Feb. 11, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Although Politico reported that Trump and Musk were slated to speak Friday over the phone, Trump shut down speculation of a call between the two.
"No. I won’t be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well," Trump said, according to CNN.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem," Trump said.
Despite Musk’s departure, White House officials have said DOGE’s efforts to address waste, fraud and abuse will continue, and Trump and cabinet members will oversee DOGE. The agency is expected to formally shut down July 4, 2026.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/snub-musks-nasa-nominee-ally-preceded-sudden-big-beautiful-bill-criticism-trump-feud