The reasons given by White House insiders on why Donald Trump withdrew the nomination of Elon Musk associate Jared Isaacman to head NASA are now being questioned.
According to a report from the New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Ryan Mac, the dismissal of Isaacman was officially described as being due to “prior associations,” which was meant to convey it was because he had previously donated to Democrats.
According to insiders, the president was only recently alerted to Isaacman's Democratic largesse, but now, with Musk out of the White House, that excuse is being questioned.
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The Times is reporting, "... those donations were old news. While Mr. Trump privately told advisers in recent days that he was surprised to learn of Mr. Isaacman’s contributions and that he had not been told of them previously, he and his team were briefed about them during the presidential transition in late 2024, before Mr. Isaacman’s nomination, according to two people with knowledge of the events."
The report adds that Isaacman also has confirmed he "directly told Mr. Trump about those donations when they met in person weeks after the 2024 election."
With the White House not responding to questions clarifying who knew what and when, the Times report added, "Mr. Trump is said to have deferred to Mr. Musk on the choice, given his success with SpaceX. But Mr. Trump told Mr. Musk on Friday, his last day in the government, that he planned to pull Mr. Isaacman’s nomination. Allies of Mr. Musk and some allies of Mr. Trump spent part of Saturday publicly trying to salvage the nomination."