Donald Trump fires Defense Secretary Mark Esper via Twitter. Video / CNN
US President Donald Trump's first wife Ivana Trump has described her ex-husband as "not a good loser" and suggested he "go down to Palm Beach" and accept his political career is over.
"He's not a good loser," said Ivana Trump, 71, the mother of Donald Trump's three eldest children. "He doesn't like to lose, so he's going to fight and fight and fight."
Trump was speaking on Monday (Tuesday NZT) to People magazine as her former husband continued to refuse to concede defeat in the US presidential election, three days after Democrat Joe Biden seized victory.
Ivana Trump told People magazine: "He hates to be a loser, that I'm sure of. But if he loses, he loses." Screenshot / Loose Women / ITV
She said she hoped her ex-husband would face reality rather than continuing to claim victory had been "stolen" from him.
She hoped he would give up on the legal action in the swing states won by Biden, instead of proceeding as he and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani vowed they would do.
Ivana and Donald Trump in the 1980s. Photo / Ron Galella
"He has to go and declare that he lost," Trump said. "I just want this whole thing to be over with, one way or the other. I really don't care."
Trump, who publicly referred to her then-husband as "the Donald", said his time in politics had come to an end.
"I don't think he has a choice," she said. "He's going to go down to Palm Beach and play golf and live the normal life, I think. This is the best choice for what he can do.
"He hates to be a loser, that I'm sure of. But if he loses, he loses.
"He has plenty of money, places to go and live in and enjoy his life."
Trump, a former model from Eastern Europe like the current Mrs Trump, Melania, was married to Donald for 15 years, from 1977 to 1992.
They had three children together, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric Trump.
Trump will continue to "fight and fight and fight", his ex-wife says. Photo / AP
Trump said her children were doing "fine" but she hoped thing could now get back to normal for them.
"I think they enjoyed being around Donald and running the election and seeing what will happen, but now it is – thank God – over," she said.
"I'm not really sure what they are going to be up to. I just want them to be able to live their normal lives.
"Not the Washington life and all that, just in New York or wherever they're going to be and just live their normal lives."
Ivana Trump's call for her ex-husband to give up comes as his opponent continues to be flooded with congratulations from world leaders, including Trump supporters, senior Republicans like Mitt Romney and four former US presidents.
Republican George W Bush has joined former Democrat presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter in extending their congratulations to Biden and vice president elect Kamala Harris.
While the presidents of Russia, China and Brazil haven't joined in the chorus, Trump's friends like Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have.
Within the Trump camp, the belief is still alive that he can win his second term as US president after succeeding in court actions to prove alleged voter fraud in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia.
People magazine reported that in Trump's family "nobody was expecting" Biden's win and there was "still chaos" among them.
