Hillary Clinton, a former presidential nominee, who had been speculatively linked to a third run in 2020, has ruled it out .

“I’m not running, but I’m going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe,” Mrs Clinton told New York’s News 12 TV channel.

As the Democratic candidate in 2016, Mrs Clinton was widely expected to become the first female US president, before a shock defeat by Mr Trump.

Asked by News 12 if she would run again for any public office in future, she said: “I don’t think so.”

Meanwhile, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ruled himself out of the 2020 race.

“I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election,” the billionaire said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “But I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.”

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Mrs Clinton’s interview was the first time she definitively rebutted speculation that she might take on Mr Trump again in 2020.

She said she had spoken to some of the declared 2020 Democratic candidates. “I’ve told every one of them, don’t take anything for granted,” she said.

Mrs Clinton was the first female presidential nominee for a major US party in the nation’s history. Her ascension to the top office was widely seen as all but guaranteed, but she was dogged by accusations of being overly reliant on wealthy donors, too close to Wall Street and out of touch with younger voters.

She was relentlessly pilloried by Mr Trump, who goaded crowds on the campaign trail to chant “Lock her up”.

Her defeat prompted a period of soul-searching for the Democratic Party, which is now gearing up for a wide-open primary contest that has already seen more than 10 contenders announce a run.

Reacting to Mrs Clinton’s decision to stay out of the race, Mr Trump tweeted to say sarcastically that she would “be sorely missed”.