According to his spokesman Dr. Ben Carson accepted the offer to head the Housing and Urban Development Department in the Trump administration.

Reuters reported:

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a former presidential rival, on Wednesday accepted an offer from President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a Carson spokesman.

As recently as last week, Carson had told The Washington Post he was not interested in a Cabinet job, saying, “Having me as a federal bureaucrat would be like a fish out of water.”

But he and Trump met on Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York, and earlier on Wednesday Carson posted on Facebook that after the talks he felt “that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone.”

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The spokesman, Armstrong Williams, said Carson was offered the position of HUD secretary and had accepted it, the Journal reported.

Carson, 65, reportedly also had been considered for the posts of surgeon general and head of Health and Human Services Department, which would have been more likely posts for someone who became a highly respected neurosurgeon during more than 30 years at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.