Ben Carson, who went from political rival to confidant to Donald Trump, is not expected to join the new administration in a formal role.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the famed neurosurgeon declined an offer to become the next secretary of Health and Human Services. Carson was among the first of Trump’s Republican primary rivals to endorse him. He also served as one of the president-elect’s primary surrogates during the campaign.
The Washington Post reports that Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who ran against Trump in the early Republican primaries, will likely continue to advise the new president in an unofficial capacity.
"The way I'm leaning is to work from the outside and not from the inside," Carson told the Post. "I want to have the freedom to work on many issues and not be pigeonholed into one particular area."
But Carson didn't completely close the door to a presidential appointment.
"I've said that if it came to a point where he absolutely needs me, I'd reconsider," Carson told the newspaper. "But I don't think that's the situation with these positions. My view is that if some people and the media are going to hate him, then he's going to need allies on the outside to be there, to be there to move the country forward. I don't care about a position."
Carson said he was offered a role in the incoming administration, but declined to go into details.
And Armstrong Williams, Carson's business manager, confirmed the offer was made, Circa reports.
"The president-elect offered him anything he wanted to do," Circa quoted Williams. "But in the end he didn't want anything."
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