Former presidential candidate Ben Carson has withdrawn his name for consideration for a job in the President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, according to multiple reports Tuesday.

Mr. Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon who was a rival in the GOP primary race but later become a fierce supporter of Mr. Trump, was reportedly offered the job of Health and Human Services secretary but turned it down.

Mr. Carson thinks he can “best serve the president outside the administration,” said Mr. Carson’s business manager, Armstrong Williams, according to a report by Circa.

The HHS secretary is a key post that will be responsible for executing Mr. Trump’s plans to dismantle Obamacare and replace it with an alternative health insurance programs.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is leading the transition team, did not respond to reporters’ questions about Mr. Carson when he arrived at Trump Tower in New York for transition team meetings.

Mr. Carson’s decision to stay out of the Trump administration follows reports earlier in the day that former Rep. Mike Rogers, who was a national security adviser to the transition team and believed to be a front-runner to run the CIA, had quit the team at the request of other team members.

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