Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on February 2, 2021 in Hawthorne, California.Â
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
Days after his nomination for NASA was pulled by President Donald Trump, Jared Isaacman told investors in his payments company Shift4 that his “transient stint in politics was an exhilarating experience.”
Isaacman said within the letter that he was resigning as CEO of Shift4, which he founded in 1999 at age 16, and can assume the role of executive chairman. He had been planning to depart the corporate if his nomination was confirmed by the Senate. But it surely never got that far.
In a post on Truth Social over the weekend, Trump said that he was withdrawing Isaacman’s nomination “after a radical review of prior associations.” The president didn’t indicate what those associations were, though some reports have suggested that it was a reference to Isaacman’s prior donations to Democrats.
“Even knowing the end result, IÂ would do all of it once again,” Isaacman wrote within the letter.
In an episode of the All-In podcast that went continue to exist Wednesday, Isaacman, who has close ties to Elon Musk, indicated that his past donations weren’t likely the explanation for Trump’s decision. He noted that his donations were public long before he was nominated, and he described himself as “right-leaning” and a supporter of the president’s agenda.
“I don’t desire to play dumb on this,” he said. “I do not think the timing was much of a coincidence.”
The timing he was referencing was Musk’s official exit from his government service work at the top of May.
Along with his profession in finance, Isaacman has led two private spaceflights through Musk’s SpaceX, in 2021 and 2024, commanding crews on multiday trips across the Earth. Shift4 also invested $27.5 million in SpaceX, based on a 2021 filing.
Musk became considered one of Trump’s biggest backers and, until last week, was leading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with slashing the scale of the federal government. With Musk’s official time as a “special government worker” coming to an end due to the 130-day limit, the world’s richest person has quickly was a vocal critic of Trump’s massive tax-cut bill.
On Wednesday, Musk ramped up his attacks on the bill that Trump is pushing Congress to pass, claiming it is going to condemn America to “debt slavery” and urging lawmakers to “KILL the BILL.” A day earlier, Musk slammed what Trump has dubbed the “big, beautiful bill” as a “disgusting abomination.”
Trump’s decision to tug Isaacman’s nomination got here before Musk’s latest tirade. But Musk had been distancing himself from the administration in recent weeks.
“You bought one person,” Isaacman said on All-In, referring to Trump because the one making the decision. He said he doesn’t “know what the trigger was or wasn’t” and said he doesn’t “fault the president for it.”
The White House didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
At Shift4, Isaacman said in Wednesday’s letter that he’ll be succeeded as CEO by Taylor Lauber, who began at the corporate in 2018 and has been serving as president.
“I even have been working since I used to be a youngster and never planning to stop now,” Isaacman wrote. “I like this company, the strategy and our team. As the biggest shareholder, I’m desirous to proceed contributing where I consider my efforts can have probably the most impact.”Â
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
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