By Karen Freifeld
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York lawyer George Conway, who had been expected to be nominated to head the U.S. Department of Justice's civil division, has withdrawn from consideration.
Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, said in a statement received on Friday that he was "profoundly grateful to the President and to the Attorney General" for selecting him to serve in the Justice Department.
However, he said, he had concluded that it is "not the right time for me to leave the private sector."
Conway had notified the White House of his decision on Wednesday in a letter, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the withdrawal. "We don't comment on personnel matters," the spokesman, Ian Prior, said in a statement.
Conway is a partner at the prestigious law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. He joins a number of potential hires who have withdrawn from consideration for posts in the Trump administration in recent weeks.