Billionaire Isaacman In Running for Top NASA Job

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00:00Billionaire Jared Isaacman is set to be in talks with Trump over that top NASA job.

00:05You might remember he was nominated to be the head of NASA, but that nomination was pulled.

00:10Ed Ludlow from Bloomberg Tech has the exclusive. He joins us on site here at Bloomberg Screen Time.

00:15This was really surprising to me.

00:16It was a surprise. What we know from sources is that Jared Isaacman, in recent weeks,

00:22has been meeting with the president and other government officials,

00:25and that the discussion has centred around a pathway for Jared Isaacman to be re-nominated to lead NASA.

00:34You'll remember he had been nominated, but the administration cancelled or terminated that nomination in May.

00:41At the time, the president of the White House talked about how it was historic,

00:46how it was his historic ties to the Democratic Party that were behind it.

00:50But you'll remember we reported quite deeply that actually it had something to do with Jared's association with Elon Musk

00:58at a time when Musk had a fractious relationship with the White House.

01:03So this is ongoing.

01:04You know, we know from a White House official the president's made no decision.

01:08He's thinking about it.

01:09It could change.

01:10But they are talking, and my understanding is they'll continue to talk.

01:14Before we got going, I think we were all thinking, wait, is this also, though, something bigger, broader,

01:17in that Elon repairing his relationship with the White House, or is this Jared repairing whatever went on before?

01:23Do you guys remember I came on the show a few weeks ago when the president hosted that dinner with different technology CEOs?

01:29Jared Isaacman was present.

01:31And, Tim, you asked me, was Isaacman, who was there as Elon Musk's proxy,

01:36as had been reported in some of the media,

01:38apparently somebody there was there on Elon's behalf.

01:40My understanding is, no, Jared Isaacman was not there at that dinner as Elon Musk's proxy.

01:45He was there of his own accord.

01:47And for whatever reason, the president invited him.

01:49But this is very recent.

01:51What's happening right now, the meetings between Jared Isaacman and the president of the United States,

01:55they're ongoing.

01:56He's meeting with other government officials.

01:59And right now, Sean Duffy, the transport sector, is a temporary leader of NASA.

02:03But at the time when the nomination was cancelled,

02:06loads of people across industry and government held Jared Isaacman in very high regard as somebody very qualified to lead the agency.

02:14Let's talk a little bit about that, because there has been criticism, oftentimes coming from the Democratic Party,

02:22about many of the president's picks for his cabinet.

02:25People who the Democrats argue, and also people sometimes in positions of science or academia argue are not appropriate picks.

02:33Because it wasn't so with Jared Isaacman.

02:35You know, I don't cover politics.

02:38I don't cover the White House.

02:39I know that I try my best to break these stories.

02:41But the thing about Jared Isaacman is that he was a private citizen astronaut, right?

02:46He'd been to space more than once in projects with SpaceX that he'd funded himself.

02:51In the nomination process for the initial nomination, he had recused himself of his ties to SpaceX

02:58and sold out of any financial conflicts, as is normal in that case.

03:02But people basically said he gets the technology.

03:05He knows the players in industry.

03:07He is not a legacy politician.

03:09He is a successful entrepreneur.

03:11That was the direction that the space industry was going.

03:13There was some debate about, well, is Jared Isaacman's philosophy aligned with the president's and NASA's

03:21in that are we going to the moon or are we going to Mars, as Elon Musk wants to?

03:25But basically, he was seen as highly competent.

03:27That's the point.

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