Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declined the White House chief of staff role with a statement issued on Friday.

Christie wrote, “It’s an honor to have the President consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief-of-staff. However, I’ve told the President that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment. As a result, I have asked not to be considered for this post.”

And again deleting clarifying earlier post, right statement this time – Christie was not offered the job, took himself out of running. pic.twitter.com/hIRUyIcHwh

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 14, 2018

Trump met with Christie yesterday amid his search for the next White House chief of staff.

A source told Axios that the president considered Christie because he’s “tough” and “politically-savvy.”

The former governor was once one of Trump’s opponents for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 but abandoned his campaign after the New Hampshire primary.

He quickly endorsed Trump after dropping out of the race and went on to become an adviser throughout the remainder of the campaign.

Christie has a history in law and was also reportedly considered to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month.

People close to Christie resent that Trump had toyed with him — removal from transition team, not picking him as AG. This time, POTUS was quite interested in Christie as chief of staff, per several White House advisers, and saw him as a front-runner. And Christie said no.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) December 14, 2018

Christie notably sent Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father to prison during while he served as a U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

Kushner has also reportedly been considered for the chief of staff position.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Thursday night that she was not aware whether Kushner was under consideration for the role.

“But as I think all of us here would recognize, he will be great in any role that the president chooses to put him in, Sanders said. “He has done a tremendous job on a number of fronts, whether it was on trade or what we’ve seen play out over the last week on criminal justice reform. He’s done a great job on all those efforts.”