"He offered me some cabinet positions, which I'm very, very thankful for. It just didn't work out in terms of my private life,” Rudy Giuliani said. | AP Photo Giuliani: Trump 'didn't forget' about me and Christie

Donald Trump may have passed over longtime loyalists Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie for positions in his administration, but the president-elect “didn't forget about us,” the former New York City mayor said Wednesday morning.

"He offered me some Cabinet positions, which I'm very, very thankful for. It just didn't work out in terms of my private life,” Giuliani said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning when asked whether he has any hurt feelings about being left out of the Trump administration.


“You wanted a certain challenge,” Fox News co-anchor Brian Kilmeade interjected. “The only challenge you really wanted was secretary of state.”

“That's true. But he offered me jobs that probably at a different time in my life, I would have taken in a minute. They'd have been a great honor,” Giuliani said. “I've got a big law firm. I've got a big consulting firm. I am extremely busy. And at 72 years old, there was only one challenge I thought that really was left for me. The others wouldn't have been a challenge.”

The former New York City mayor, one of Trump’s highest-profile surrogates on the campaign trail, was widely considered to be a shoe-in for a job in the incoming administration. He was believed to be in the running for the job of attorney general or secretary of homeland security, but Giuliani made clear that he was interested in the position of secretary of state, a job that ultimately was given to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson shortly after Giuliani withdrew his name from consideration.

Christie, too, appeared likely to be on the receiving end of a job offer from Trump in the days immediately after the election but has thus far been shut out. The New Jersey governor’s name was floated for many of the same jobs Giuliani's name was raised for, including U.S. attorney general and secretary of homeland security, but also for White House chief of staff. But he was removed as chairman of Trump’s transition team almost immediately following the election and was passed over for the job of Republican National Committee chairman.

Wednesday morning, Giuliani said a job outside the White House will afford him more freedom to speak candidly in support of Trump’s policies.

“On the outside, I can be a very effective spokesman for his policies, maybe with a little more Independence than you have,” he said. “Well, you know, I'm independent and I say what I think. And I think I can be very effective for his policies on the outside as somebody that people can look to and say, ‘Well, he's not employed by Donald Trump, but he's telling us what he really thinks.’”