By announcing his decision to Remove the appointment From Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur, to lead NASA on Saturday, President Trump cited an examination of his “previous associations”, a veiled reference to the gifts that Mr. Isaacman had made to the Democrats.
But these gifts were old news. While Mr. Trump declared in private the advisers in recent days that he had been surprised to learn the contributions of Mr. Isaacman and that he had not been informed before, he and his team were informed about them during the presidential transition at the end of 2024, before the appointment of Mr. Isaacman, according to two people knowing the events.
One of these people said that Mr. Isaacman, who had already been approved by a senatorial committee and headed for a confirmation vote this week, directly informed Mr. Trump of these donations when they met in person after the 2024 elections.
Asked about the account, the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, did not answer the specific question. “The president has the right to appoint who he chooses to these positions and it is imperative that everyone, in particular in a role as important as the head of NASA, be aligned by the mission with the Trump administration,” she said in a statement.
Reached by phone, Mr. Isaacman refused to comment.
The revelation occurred after Mr. Trump told the partners that he had recently been informed of the donations of Mr. Isaacman to eminent democrats, especially in the last two campaign cycles.
Mr. Isaacman is the founder of a payments processing company and a close partner of Elon Musk, who after the election personally put pressure for Mr. Isaacman to obtain the NASA post. Mr. Isaacman flew to space twice with the company of M. Musk Spacex, who has Several contracts with the space agency.
