Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's chief of staff John Kelly told black Republicans recently that the White House is looking to hire "talented young men and women" after it was announced that Omarosa Manigault Newman, one of the few African-Americans to hold a senior position in the West Wing, was leaving.

"I met with them just for a few minutes and said we are looking for talented young men and women of any age that would be willing to come and serve the country for some period of time. I didn't say African-Americans, I didn't say Hispanics," Kelly told reporters Tuesday.

He added that the administration wants to hire talented people regardless of their ethnicity, and told the Republicans that "if you know people who are looking towards something that is very fulfilling, we're looking for really good people."

Manigault Newman was one of Trump's most high-profile African-American supporters on the 2016 campaign trail, but her departure, according to two sources close to the President, had been a long time coming. She joined the Trump White House as the top communications official at the White House Office of Public Liaison, but when Kelly became the chief of staff in July, her role began to feel ill-defined, the sources said.

"People have long been unsure what she did at the White House," the former official said, adding that people inside the White House had been openly wondering "what value she brought" to the operation.

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