Ben Carson
Ben CarsonReuters

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on Wednesday accepted an offer from President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a Carson spokesman said, according to Reuters.

Carson confirmed on Tuesday he had been offered the position and promised he would be “thinking about it seriously”.

As recently as last week, Carson had told The Washington Post he was not interested in a Cabinet job, saying, "Having me as a federal bureaucrat would be like a fish out of water."

On Tuesday, Carson and Trump met at Trump Tower in New York, and earlier on Wednesday Carson posted on Facebook that after the talks he felt "that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone."

Carson’s spokesman, Armstrong Williams, said the neurosurgeon was offered the position of HUD secretary and had accepted it, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Carson, 65, reportedly also had been considered for the posts of surgeon general and head of Health and Human Services Department.

Carson, who challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, dropped out of the race after achieving poor results in the primaries. He subsequently endorsed Trump for the presidency.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump chose South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump's White House transition team has yet to make a formal announcement, but an inside source disclosed the decision to Fox News.

Haley, 44, served three terms in the House of Representatives before her successful run for the State House in South Carolina in 2010. She was reelected by a double-digit margin in 2014.