Ben Carson has left Donald Trump's team that is vetting potential running mates to focus instead on setting up Thursday's meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan,
The Daily Beast reports.
It was announced Tuesday that Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is now heading up the vice presidential vetting process with the help of a law firm, and that Trump
has narrowed the list of names to about half-a-dozen, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Armstrong Williams, Carson's business manager, told The Daily Beast that Carson's role in the campaign is to serve in whatever capacity needed.
"What Trump wanted from Carson were names of who he would recommend for a potential candidate. He was among several other people making recommendations," Williams told the website. "Once those names were submitted, they decided to have [Corey] Lewandowski head up."
Carson now is "involved in making sure that everything goes well with Thursday's meeting," Williams said.
Trump is meeting with Ryan after the speaker last week indicated
he is not yet prepared to endorse him, but indicated he is persuadable.
Carson has good relationships both with Trump and Ryan, and wanted to meet first with Ryan, but The Daily Beast said that meeting will be by phone and not face-to-face as Carson desired.