‘There are methods which you could do it,’ says Trump about possible third term
Good morning, and welcome to our US politics blog amid news that Donald Trump is “not joking” about a possible third term.
The comments on Sunday are the clearest indication yet 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,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago. And he told host Kristen Welker: “I am not joking.”
He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election, was totally rigged.” Trump lost that election to Joe Biden.
Still, Trump added: “I don’t want to talk about a third term now because no matter how you look at it, we’ve got a long time to go.”
As Associated Press reports, 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 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 Biden.
We’ll be bringing you more reaction from Trump’s allies and opponents as the day progresses. There are also plenty of other developments:
Key events
Warning of HIV resurgence amid Trump cuts
The federal government has cancelled dozens of grants to study how to prevent new HIV infections and expand access to care, decimating progress toward eliminating the epidemic in the United States, scientists say.
Over the last month, more than 300 research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been terminated – 65 of them were specifically related to researching advancements in HIV care. Some scientists were notified about losing funding as recently as last Thursday. NIH, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, is the largest funding source of medical research in the world, leaving many scientists scrambling to figure out how to continue their work.
“The loss of this research could very well result in a resurgence of HIV that becomes more generalized in this country,” said Julia Marcus, a professor at Harvard Medical School who recently had two of her grants cancelled.
You can read more here
In yesterday’s interview, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Donald Trump if one potential avenue to a third term was having Vice President JD Vance run for the top job and “then pass the baton to you”.
“Well, that’s one,” Trump responded. “But there are others too. There are others.”
“Can you tell me another?” Welker asked.
“No,” Trump replied.
We are getting some reaction to Trump’s comments about a possible third term.
Representative Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who served as lead counsel for Trump‘s first impeachment, said:
“This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy. If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term.”
‘There are methods which you could do it,’ says Trump about possible third term
Good morning, and welcome to our US politics blog amid news that Donald Trump is “not joking” about a possible third term.
The comments on Sunday are the clearest indication yet 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,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago. And he told host Kristen Welker: “I am not joking.”
He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election, was totally rigged.” Trump lost that election to Joe Biden.
Still, Trump added: “I don’t want to talk about a third term now because no matter how you look at it, we’ve got a long time to go.”
As Associated Press reports, 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 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 Biden.
We’ll be bringing you more reaction from Trump’s allies and opponents as the day progresses. There are also plenty of other developments:
