Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took his name out of consideration to become President Trump’s new chief of staff.

“It’s an honor to have the President consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief of staff,” Christie said Friday. “However, I’ve told the president that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment. As a result, I have asked him to no longer keep me in any of his considerations for his post.”



And again deleting clarifying earlier post, right statement this time - Christie was not offered the job, took himself out of running. pic.twitter.com/hIRUyIcHwh — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 14, 2018



Reports emerged Thursday night that Christie had met with Trump at the White House to discuss taking over when John Kelly leaves the White House at the start of 2019.

Trump told reporters Thursday that he was considering five different people to be his new chief of staff.

The search, however, has seemed to be rocky going for the president as many have pulled their names from consideration, including former front-runner and Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers.

Ayers dropped out when he and the president could not come to an agreement on the time frame for the position.

Over the weekend, Trump announced that Kelly would be departing the White House at the end of the year amid reports saying the relationship between the two had soured and they were no longer on speaking terms.

Kelly, however, could stay on into the New Year as Trump continues the search for a new chief of staff.