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Donald Trump’s personnel failures tend to fall into three distinct categories. Some of his nominees have failed, for example, because of intractable bipartisan opposition (see Matt Gaetz and Ed Martin). Others failed because some on the far-right decided that the president’s choices weren’t quite radical enough (see Dr. Janette Nesheiwat).
The third category, however, is the most unusual: Some of Trump’s personnel failures have come after the White House admitted that it dropped the ball on vetting and neglected to do its due diligence. It’s what happened with Chad Chronister’s failed nomination to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration; it’s what happened with Kathleen Sgamma, who was the president’s choice to run the Bureau of Land Management; and at least at first blush, it’s what appears to have happened to Jared Isaacman, who was Trump’s pick to serve as the new administrator of NASA. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump said Saturday he is pulling the nomination of billionaire Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator, citing “a thorough review of prior associations.” Trump, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, did not elaborate on what associations he was referring to.
The president’s statement was uncharacteristically brief. “After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” he wrote. “I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
The news was, among other things, sudden: Isaacman’s nomination had already cleared a committee vote — he was approved with bipartisan support, which was relatively unusual for a Trump nominee — and his confirmation was practically a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, just a few days before the Senate was poised to approve the nominee, the president pulled his choice to lead NASA from consideration.
As for the “prior associations” that the Republican referred to, The New York Times reported, “Mr. Trump in recent days told associates he intended to yank Mr. Isaacman’s nomination after being told that he had donated to prominent Democrats, according to three people with knowledge of the deliberations who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.”
This was an odd explanation. After all, it stood to reason that Isaacman’s background as a political donor was well known before he was even nominated. Indeed, the Times reported a day later that the former nominee did, in fact, freely disclose his record in this area and the details of his 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. One of those people said Mr. Isaacman, who had already been approved by a Senate committee and was headed to a confirmation vote this week, directly told Mr. Trump about those donations when they met in person weeks after the 2024 election.
So what happened? The Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that in recent days, the president’s associates “began pressing him on Mr. Isaacman’s Democratic donations,” and the behind-the-scenes lobbying appears to have had an impact. What’s more, Isaacman was closely aligned with Elon Musk, and Trump’s biggest campaign donor has exited his White House office.
As for who Trump’s next NASA nominee might be, watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.