Nasa gets new temporary boss as Trump's budget cut leads to mass layoffs
Trump named Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut, to be the NASA administrator in December, before abruptly withdrawing his nomination in May, a decision that angered SpaceX owner Musk.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. (Photo: Reuters)
While at the time the White House did not provide an explanation for pulling Isaacman's nomination, Trump has since said it was "inappropriate" to have named Isaacman as NASA administrator, considering Musk's business with the space agency.After Trump's announcement on Wednesday, Isaacman called it "a great move" and wished Duffy well."NASA needs political leadership from someone the President trusts and has confidence in," Isaacman said on X.Trump's announcement came as Politico reported that more than 2,100 senior-ranking NASA employees are set to leave their jobs under a push by the administration to shed staff through early retirement, buyouts and deferred resignations.Under Trump's administration, the U.S. space industry and NASA's workforce of 18,000 have been whipsawed by looming layoffs and proposed budget cuts that would cancel dozens of science programs.- EndsMust Watch
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No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.' Precisely how close Trump and Epstein were isn't totally clear, CNN reported. "Was this just a situation of powerful men occasionally partying together and sharing Epstein's private plane because that's what rich guys do?," it added. It's believed the idea that Trump would submit a letter for Epstein's birthday album isn't that surprising, given this was when the two of them were seemingly on better terms (2003). The idea that Trump would be lewd in that letter also tracks, given his past, CNN reported. The 'Access Hollywood' recording of Donald Trump bragging about 'grabbing women" had surfaced in 2016. But a Trump ally said this doesn't sound like him or something he would create. Influencer Laura Loomer defended Trump, posting on X, 'Everyone who actually KNOWS President Trump knows he doesn't type letters. He writes notes in big black Sharpie." Moreover, while Trump claims he doesn't draw pictures, his drawings have surfaced before. US media have published multiple drawings done by Trump in the past, with several dating to the early 2000s when he used his celebrity status to donate sketches for charity. While these don't prove that Trump wrote this letter to Epstein and drew the accompanying picture. But again, Trump is undercutting his own credibility, CNN reported. Some have suspected that Trump's name could be in the files his administration has failed to produce, given his efforts to quiet chatter about Epstein. Merely being named wouldn't mean Trump had done anything wrong. But it could create political headaches — as the fallout from the Journal story shows — and as demonstrated by Trump's very public reluctance to release more documents, CNN reported. Trump was asked Tuesday if Attorney General Pam Bondi had told him his name was in the files, and he didn't directly answer. 'She's given us just a very quick briefing in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen,' Trump was quoted as saying. Trump's 2002 comment about Epstein's taste for women 'on the younger side' loomed over him, furthering theories that he might have known something about what Epstein had been up to. But that remains speculative and unproven. Trump also said nothing about underage girls; he cited young 'women.' CNN cited former Trump aide Sam Nunberg's 2019 account to the Washington Post. According to that, Trump had said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because of misconduct. 'He's a real creep, I banned him,' Nunberg said Trump had told him. Nunberg reportedly quoted Trump as saying that he did so because Epstein had recruited a young woman who worked there to give him massages. "This was years before the Epstein investigation became public knowledge," according to the Post. Multiple reports, including a 2020 book by reporters for the Miami Herald and Wall Street Journal, have linked Epstein's ban from Mar-a-Lago to alleged overtures to the teenage daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member. In 2019, while Trump quickly distanced himself from Epstein, his commentary the following year after Maxwell was charged was different — and somewhat bizarre. 'But I wish her well, whatever it is,' Trump told reporters in late July 2020. Despite significant criticism of that — wishing an accused (and later-convicted) child sex trafficker well — Trump a couple weeks later doubled and tripled down when pressed by then-Axios reporter Jonathan Swan on how odd that sounded, CNN reported. 'Yeah, I wish her well,' Trump told Swan. 'I'd wish you well. I'd wish a lot of people well. Good luck. Let them prove somebody was guilty.' Trump added, when pressed again: 'I do wish her well. I'm not looking for anything bad for her. I'm not looking bad for anybody.'
