Rudy Giuliani, an early and ardent supporter of Donald Trump, will not see any reward for his loyalty. In an unnecessarily long statement provided to the press Friday, the Trump transition team announced that Giuliani, who openly campaigned to serve as Trump’s secretary of state, is no longer in the running for the position—or for any other Cabinet posting, for that matter. “I will always be appreciative of his 24/7 dedication to our campaign after I won the primaries and for his extremely wise counsel,” Trump said in a statement that reads like a breakup letter. “He is and continues to be a close personal friend, and as appropriate, I will call upon him for advice and can see an important place for him in the administration at a later date.”

According to the statement, Giuliani voluntarily took himself out of the running on November 29, nearly two weeks after the former New York City mayor had made headlines at a public forum where he unsubtly auditioned for the role of America’s top diplomat. “Giuliani started doing interviews with himself, and that bothered people. You never want to be more controversial than the boss,” a transition team aide told Politico. “The issue with Trump is you need to close the deal when he’s in the mindset. He’s not in the Rudy mindset anymore.” CNN later reported that the Trump team informed Giuliani that he was never under consideration and had told him to stand down.

Immediately after the announcement, Giuliani went on Fox News to insist that he was fine, just fine, and that it was all for the best. “The whole thing was becoming kind of very confusing and very difficult for the president-elect, and my desire to be in the Cabinet was great, but it wasn't that great,” he said, adding that he was only interested in the secretary of state position, and if he couldn’t get that, he would rather have nothing. “They're down to the last two, three, four. So, it makes sense to just, you know, get out of the way.”

That said, he still couldn’t help but snipe about the new guy Trump’s been seeing. “I thought Mitt [Romney] went over the line in the things that he said about Donald Trump,” Giuliani said, referring to Romney‘s past criticism during the Republican primary. “I mean, the president-elect is gonna make his decision. I will support that decision. But, you know, my advice would be: Mitt went just a little too far to—you can make friends and make up, but ... I would not see him as the candidate for the Cabinet.”

John Bolton “would probably be my choice,” Giuliani went out of his way to add. “I think John is terrific.”

Even if Giuliani had not reportedly disqualified himself by play-acting as secretary of state, he still would have faced difficult questions during confirmation hearings about his past history of consulting and business dealings tied to foreign governments, major corporations, and in one case, an Iranian group designated a terrorist organization. (Trump’s team graciously avoided mentioning Giuliani’s many potential conflicts of interest, with Reince Priebus emphasizing in the statement that Giuliani had already been vetted and “passed with flying colors.”)

Giuliani, who will remain vice chair of the transition team, seemed to take the breakup well, saying in the same statement that he wanted to help the Trump administration in whatever way he could—though he insisted that he was the one who initiated the breakup. “This is not about me; it is about what is best for the country and the new administration,” he said, and announced that he would return to his law firm and consulting businesses to live his best, “fulfilling” life. “From the vantage point of the private sector, I look forward to helping the President-elect in any way he deems necessary and appropriate.”