Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani yanked his name off the list Wednesday of possible replacement for ousted FBI Director James B. Comey.

“I’m not a candidate for FBI director,” Mr. Giuliani told the Atlantic. “The president’s not gonna ask me and I’m not gonna be FBI director.”

Mr. Giuliani, who was a top surrogate and counterterrorism adviser for the Trump campaign, was among a handful of prospective candidates for the FBI job after Mr. Trump abruptly fired Mr. Comey Tuesday.

Pressed on whether he would accept the job if offered, Mr. Giuliani said he was confident Mr. Trump would not make the offer.

Other names on the list include former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and New York City Policy Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Mr. Giuliani brushed aside the uproar over Mr. Trump’s decision to fire the FBI chief, saying the president “made the right decision.”

“Jim is someone I regard as a friend,” Mr. Giuliani said. “He worked for me for three years when I was U.S. attorney, but I feel like he made a number of bad judgments over the last year, and the president was correct in removing him and trying to get the FBI better leadership.

“I think everything the president does creates political blowback because I think the president is treated quite unfairly,” he said. “And I think the president made the right decision. I think any president, given the decisions that were made by the FBI director over the last year, would lead to the result that the FBI needs different leadership.”

Democrats and some Republicans have argued that the removal of Mr. Comey tainted the FBI investigation of an alleged connection between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. They doubled down on calls for a special counsel for the investigation.

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