President Donald Trump said that while many want him to try for a Third Term in the Oval Office, "the law is very strong."
Trump was responding to a question posed by a reporter Tuesday night about the possibility of him running for a third term in 2028.
"Everybody asks me that question, and you know that the law is very strong on that," Trump said at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. "I'd love to run, but the law is very strong."
"I get asked by everyone, well, even tonight they're screaming at the event, '2028,'" he said.
The president was referring to the Patriot Games he attended earlier that day. "No, everybody wants me to do it, but the law is very strong."
Watch:
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2087352087688433811?s=20
The law he is referring to is a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting more than two terms at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that no one can be elected president more than twice.
The amendment was ratified by the states in February 1951. It was ratified about six years after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had served four terms as president.
Before Roosevelt, it was the norm for presidents to serve no more than two terms, which was a precedent set by George Washington.
Trump has not shied away about his desire to seek a Third Term.
At the White House Correspondents' Dinner on July 24, Trump opened his speech by referring to it.
"Just like my presidency, the second time is always better. It's always better. And the third time will be better yet. I'm only kidding," Trump said.
In an interview on March 30, 2025, with NBC’s Kristen Welker, Trump was more serious about the possibility.
"There are methods which you could do it," he said.
One route has Vice President JD Vance runing for president with Trump as his running mate. Vance would win, then resign, paving the way for Trump, as vice president, to become president.
This would potentially sidestep the 22nd Amendment’s prohibition on being elected president more than twice.
But most constitutional scholars say this would not work.
Deborah Pearlstein, a Princeton University law professor, told The Washington Post that the 12th Amendment "closes the door" on Trump securing a Third Term through the vice presidency.
The amendment’s final sentence states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”