GOP senator 'played hardball' with Trump to force reversal of key nomination

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) went out of his way to "play hardball" with the White House to get President Donald Trump to back down from his position of pulling Jared Isaacman's nomination for administrator of NASA, Semafor reported on Thursday.

Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and commercial astronaut, is a close friend of tech tycoon Elon Musk, and Trump's initial withdrawal of his nomination was a big factor in the two men falling out spectacularly in public earlier this year. But according to the report, Musk was not the only figure rankled by the change of plans.

Sheehy, per the report, "tried unsuccessfully in May to get President Donald Trump to reconsider his withdrawal of Isaacman’s nomination to lead the space agency. After months passed with still no permanent NASA nominee, Sheehy, a longtime friend of Isaacman, identified a key piece of leverage: the confirmation of a close Trump ally."

Specifically, said the report, "In order to get outgoing personnel chief Sergio Gor quickly approved as US ambassador to India, the president needed all 53 GOP senators to go along. But Sheehy suggested he wouldn’t view Gore’s job of staffing the administration as complete as long as the NASA role was vacant. So Sheehy put a hold on Gor’s nomination in September, a move that has not been previously reported. It didn’t take long to get a response from the White House."

Ultimately, Trump went into talks with Sheehy over the hold on Gor, one of his closest allies. And Trump eventually agreed to re-nominate Isaacman for the NASA position.

This comes after reporting that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, currently overseeing NASA on an acting basis, has been maneuvering to try to get the job permanently himself, an issue that caused bitter divisions in the White House.