Eliza Collins

USA TODAY

The secretary of State short list just lost a name.

On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump’s transition team announced that longtime loyalist Rudy Giuliani had removed his name from consideration for any Cabinet post in the new administration.

“Before I joined the campaign I was very involved and fulfilled by my work with my law firm and consulting firm, and I will continue that work with even more enthusiasm,” Giuliani said in a statement. “From the vantage point of the private sector, I look forward to helping the President-elect in any way he deems necessary and appropriate."

Trump said he would call on Giuliani for advice and “can see an important place for him in the administration at a later date."

"Rudy would have been an outstanding member of the Cabinet in several roles, but I fully respect and understand his reasons for remaining in the private sector," Trump said in a statement.

In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Your World with Neil Cavuto , Giuliani said that he had given notice last month but "they didn’t accept the letter and therefore they wanted to still hold me inconsideration for the state Department.”

“This is a good time to do it, they’re down to the last two, three, four. So, it made sense to just get out of the way," Giuliani said about finally convincing the team to let him remove himself from the list of potential nominees to be America's top diplomat. "Honestly, the other positions I didn’t have an interest in, so that really that was the only one I had any real interest in. But it wasn’t so overwhelming that you know I’m terribly disappointed. I would like to anything I can to help the President-elect. If he had a need he couldn’t fill somewhere I would’ve done it but he has plenty of people that can fill that need, and I am extraordinarily happy in what I do."

Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, said that Giuliani passed vetting for potential conflicts of interest "with flying colors." Critics had expressed concern about Giuliani's work consulting for foreign governments while he was in the private sector.

Giuliani was favored for the post by Trump loyalists who did not like the idea of former Trump critic Mitt Romney getting the nomination. Giuliani was one of those who was not in favor of selecting the former Massachusetts governor.

"Well, you know I probably agree with Newt and with Mike Huckabee and a group of other very loyal supporters of President-elect Trump. I though Mitt went over the line in the things that he said about Donald Trump, and the President-elect is going to make his decision, I will support that decision, but you know my advice would be Mitt went just a little too far. You can make friends and make up, but I would not see him as a candidate for the Cabinet," he said on Fox.

Giuliani said his choice for the post would be former U.N. ambassador John Bolton.

Who has Trump picked for his Cabinet so far?