President Trump indicated he was looking for ways to serve a third term, which is not allowed under the 22nd Amendment, in an interview with NBC News.
President Trump said Sunday that «I’m not joking» about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029.
«There are methods which you could do it», Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club.
He also said, «It is far too early to think about it.»
The 22nd Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row, says «no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.»
Any attempt to remain in office would be legally suspect and it is unclear how seriously Mr. Trump might pursue the idea. The comments nonetheless were an extraordinary reflection of the desire to maintain power by a president who had violated democratic traditions four years ago when he tried to overturn the election he lost to former President Joe Biden.
«This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy», said a statement from Rep. Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who served as lead counsel for Trump’s first impeachment. «If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term.»
Steve Bannon, a former Trump strategist who runs the right-wing «War Room» podcast, called for the president to run again during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.
«We want Trump in ’28», he said.
Jeremy Paul, a constitutional law professor at Boston’s Northeastern University, said, «There are no credible legal arguments for him to run for a third term.
