US Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, listens as former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies in Washington, DC, on July 24, 2019.

Rep. John Ratcliffe has withdrawn from consideration as the next director of national intelligence, President Donald Trump said Friday, on the heels of continued questions about Ratcliffe's qualifications for the job.

Ratcliffe's withdrawal, which Trump blamed on unfair media coverage of the Texas Republican, came just five days after the president announced that current national intelligence chief Dan Coats would leave his post in mid-August, and that Ratcliffe would be nominated to replace him.

And it came several days after Ratcliffe aids had to walk back his claims that as a federal prosecutor he had won convictions of terrorism cases.

Trump said that Ratcliffe, who will remain in Congress, "is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream media."

"Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people ... John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country," Trump said on Twitter.

The president said he would soon announce another person as his nominee for director of national intelligence.

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Trump told reporters later that Ratcliffe's withdrawal camed when, "I asked him, I said, 'do you want to go through this for two or three months, or would you want me to maybe do something else?' And he thought about it, I said, 'it's gonna be rough.' "

"I could see exactly where the press was going. Fake news. He's a fine man, he's a fine man," Trump said. "And so we hadn't started the process and I thought it's easier before we start. But I read things that were just unfair. And he's just too good. He doesn't deserve it."