Isaacman was previously in the running for the position before President Donald Trump withdrew his nomination<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n Both men have been lobbying for the top NASA role, including contacting Trump directly, sources told the Journal. Duffy continued his efforts even after interviewing Isaacman for the position on October 13, after the billionaire re-emerged as a possible candidate.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, Pete Meachum, Duffy\u2019s chief of staff at the Transportation Department, is said to have raised concerns with the White House directly about Isaacman, including claims that he is using lobbyists and social media influencers to boost his chances for the position, according to the report.<\/p>\n The talks between Duffy and Isaacman about a possible renomination were \u201ccontentious at times,\u201d the Journal said, with Duffy later needing to speak to Isaacman again to smooth things over.<\/p>\n Trump is weighing his options and could announce his new nomination for NASA administrator as soon as Monday.<\/p>\n Isaacman, a commercial astronaut who has flown two missions with Musk\u2019s SpaceX, denied allegations that he was using people to advocate on his behalf, saying he has \u201cnever expressed confidence about a renomination at any point.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaacman had been on track to be confirmed as NASA\u2019s next chief before Trump abruptly withdrew his nomination in May. According to The New York Times,<\/a> the president pulled his support over loyalty concerns after learning that Isaacman had previously donated to Democratic political candidates, including fellow astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.<\/p>\n Since then, Isaacman has aligned himself more closely with Trump and the GOP, including donating $1 million to a MAGA-related fund earlier this year, the Journal reported, citing federal election records.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw Isaacman\u2019s nomination also coincided with Musk\u2019s departure from his White House role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. The departure preceded a spectacular public fallout <\/a>between the president and his former first buddy which escalated to Musk suggesting that files related to late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein have not been fully released because Trump is in them.<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Duffy has spoken to government officials about moving NASA under the Transportation Department\u2019s remit, sources told the Journal.<\/p>\n \u201cSean said that NASA might benefit from being part of the Cabinet, maybe even within the Department of Transportation, but he\u2019s never said he wants to keep the job himself,\u201d a NASA spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Trump asked Duffy to speak with other potential candidates for NASA administrator. <\/p>\n \u201cDuffy has been happy to help by vetting people and giving his honest feedback,\u201d the NASA spokesperson added, noting that he would support whoever the president ultimately nominates.<\/p>\n The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, NASA, and the offices of Duffy and Isaacman for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A secret battle is playing out between two MAGA figures over who will become the next official leader…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1072,462,718,79,20444,193],"class_list":["post-241437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-donald-j-trump","tag-maga","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-sean-duffy","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/FZT65QBWSZA3LNSUNUAD7VLEHE.jpg\")
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is currently leading the space agency on an interim basis. Howard Schnapp\/Newsday RM via Getty Images <\/p>\n![\"Jared](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/YD7GKWZEXBDGTNDZU32M7AOZQY.jpg\")
Jared Isaacman has privately flown to space twice with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Patrick T. FALLON \/ AFP\/ Getty Images <\/p>\n