Exclusive: Trump likely to axe space council after SpaceX lobbying, sources say

Source: Reuters

President Donald Trump's new administration is likely to do away with the White House's National Space Council, a cabinet policy panel that lobbyists at Elon Musk's SpaceX have been pushing to axe, according to three people familiar with the plans.

Trump's aides and SpaceX's top lobbyist Mat Dunn in recent months have told associates they see the space council as a "waste of time", according to the sources, stirring doubts about its fate and whether Vice President JD Vance would have an interest in chairing it as required by law.

Following Trump's election victory, his team did not contact the space council, chaired by Kamala Harris, as it did with NASA and other agencies over transition plans, one of the sources said. The council's staff offices near the White House have mostly been emptied, the source said.

Dunn, SpaceX and the heads of former President Joe Biden's space council did not respond to requests for comment.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-likely-axe-space-council-after-spacex-lobbying-sources-say-2025-01-21/