Flynn had been considered a dark horse candidate to join the Republican ticket. | AP Photo Trump VP contender Flynn: Pence is 'the right choice for America'

Retired Gen. Michael Flynn said Donald Trump “made the right choice for America” by picking Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

Flynn had been considered a dark horse candidate to join the Republican ticket but rumors surrounding him faded in recent days as Trump seemed to zero in on Pence, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.


“I think Donald Trump made the right choice for America, and I think that was really at the back of his mind,” Flynn said in an interview on WABC Radio’s “Election Central with Rita Cosby.” “I was very honored to be in the mix, and I've spoken to Donald Trump twice in the last 48 hours, and I will tell you, he's an absolute, just a superb leader.”

The retired general said Trump personally called him to deliver the news that he had made a different pick for vice president on Thursday, the day before the GOP nominee announced Pence’s selection on Twitter. He said he was “honored” to have been considered and called the experience “humbling.”

Flynn did not rule out serving in another position in a possible Trump administration.

“What I'm not ruling out is my desire to serve this country,” he said. “That's what I'm not ruling out. I believe that our country is going in the wrong direction, and I have a very strong desire to help out in any way that I can.”

The retired general is a lifelong Democrat who reportedly butted heads with President Barack Obama during his tenure as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014. Flynn was an early backer of Trump’s but is far from a social conservative, drawing the ire of anti-abortion groups after an interview last Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” where he said “women have to be able to choose.”

"What people do in their private lives, these are not big issues that our country is dealing with that will cause our country to collapse," Flynn told ABC's Martha Raddatz in the same interview. "I'm more concerned that our country could collapse because we are not dealing with education issues, immigration issues."