The friendship and business ties between Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk drew close scrutiny from Democratic senators during a hearing Wednesday on Isaacman’s nomination to head NASA.
Democrats grilled Isaacman on his connections to Musk, who has led an effort under Republican President Donald Trump to slash federal spending and remake the government. Musk, named head of the Department of Government Efficiency, owns the private space flight company SpaceX — which has contracts with the space agency Isaacman would lead — and the satellite internet company Starlink.
“Have you had any communication, emails, texts or calls with Elon Musk regarding how you plan to manage NASA since you were nominated?” Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan, asked Isaacman.“Not at all senator,” Isaacman responded.
When asked what steps he would take to ensure that Musk has no undue influence on NASA, Isaacman did not directly answer, but said his loyalty was to the nation.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, did not seem convinced.
“You have invested tens of millions of dollars in SpaceX,” Markey said later in the hearing during a particularly contentious exchange. “Your payments company, Shift4, has an ongoing global strategic partnership with Starlink, worth millions each year. You can understand why the public would be concerned about conflicts of interest here.”