Conway on Giuliani withdrawal: ‘It’s a mutual decision’
Donald Trump’s top adviser and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway called the withdrawal of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani from Cabinet consideration a “mutual decision.”
“It’s a mutual decision by President-elect Trump and Mayor Giuliani and it should be respected by everyone,” Conway said in an interview with MSNBC on Friday.
{mosads}”They will continue to be close friends. Mayor Giuliani will continue to be an informal adviser to the president-elect,” Conway added while praising the former New York City mayor on his role before and after the election.
It was reported earlier Friday that Trump had removed Giuliani from the running. A short time later, the transition released a statement announcing that Giuliani had withdrawn his name for secretary of State or any other position in the administration.
Conway echoed the statement, saying that Giuliani’s decision to not have a role in the new administration is due in part to his interest in continuing to work in the private sector.
“In addition to that, he has a very lucrative, very successful, very in-demand private sector business and its difficult for people to walk away from that,” she said.
When asked to elaborate on her phrase “mutual decision,” Conway said that she simply meant that Trump approved of Giuliani’s decision to withdraw his name from the list of contenders.
“Obviously, the president-elect is considering a number of people for that post — the actual scope has widened of late,” she said.
Conway and other Trump advisers have previously said that Giuliani was one of the leading candidates for a top-level Cabinet post, making his name being taken off the list an unexpected development.
Conway also said that the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was still being considered for Secretary of State, and added that she will be supportive of any choice that the president-elect makes regarding the position.
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