Story highlights A former Iraq War advocate was in the running for a top foreign policy job

He was also a major Trump critic

Washington (CNN) Elliott Abrams said Monday he guesses a certain top White House adviser's opposition to him is the reason President Donald Trump rejected him for a top State Department position.

"The only person on the White House staff that I know was opposed to my being hired was Steve Bannon so that's my guess. It's a guess," Abrams said, referring to White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Abrams described his meeting with Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and his failure to gain the approval of a President who he had publicly criticized in the leadup to the election in an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on "OutFront."

"The meeting was fine," Abrams said. "(Trump) didn't say, 'Why did you say those mean things about me.' We talked foreign policy."

Elliott Abrams explains to @ErinBurnett why he didn't get a top State job https://t.co/WOX6uTzOXv https://t.co/ShleOUeJfE — OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) February 14, 2017

He said Trump told him Tillerson wanted him for the post, and when the meeting was over, he assumed everything was fine. But then he found out Trump had rejected him.

Read More