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Donald Trump said he was “not joking” about serving a third term, adding that there were “methods” by which he could bypass the constitutional prohibition on US presidents being elected three times.
In a phone interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump said “it is far too early to think about it”, but confirmed that he was entertaining the possibility.
“A lot of people want me to do it,” said Trump, 78.
“I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
The 22nd amendment to the US Constitution states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
But Trump replied: “There are methods which you could do it.”
It would take a two-thirds vote in Congress or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the states to allow Trump to run for a third term.
Andy Ogles, a Republican member of the House from Tennessee, has offered a proposal the 22nd amendment, but there is not enough political support among Congress or the states for such a move.
Trump has repeatedly joked in public about the possibility of running for a third term. In entertaining the far-fetched notion, Trump, who falsely denied that he lost the 2020 election, not only trolls Democrats but attempts to protect himself from being labelled a lame duck in his second term.
Asked whether vice-president JD Vance could win the White House in 2028 and then hand the role to Trump, the president said “that’s one” possibility but added that there were “others, too”.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s White House chief strategist in part of his first term, has said the US president “will run and win again in 2028”.
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