DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump publicly mused about running for a third term Monday in remarks that House Republicans in the room saw as a joke — but one that Trump keeps repeating.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure,” Trump told House Republicans at a gathering here, one week after he was sworn into office for a second term. “I think I’m not allowed to run again.”
Trump continued to entertain the prospect of yet another presidential run, prodding Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who moments earlier had introduced him onstage, to promise a “new renaissance.”
“Am I allowed to run again?” Trump asked. “Mike, I better not get you involved in that.”
A former constitutional lawyer, Johnson, standing on stage with Trump, chuckled at Trump's comments. Other GOP lawmakers present also laughed.
Trump's remarks at the House Republicans' annual issues retreat at Trump National Doral, his golf club and resort outside Miami, came just days after an ally in the House introduced a measure that would set in motion the process to adopt a constitutional amendment allowing him to seek a third term. The bill has not advanced at all in the chamber.
Trump "has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal," conservative Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said in a statement last week.
"To that end, I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms," Ogles continued. "This amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs."
The Constitution sets a two-term limit for the presidency, meaning that for Trump to serve a third term in 2028 or later, a constitutional amendment would be required.
It wasn't the first time Trump has made the joke about running for a third term.
“It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once, but twice or three times or four times,” Trump joked to a crowd of supporters over the weekend at an event in Las Vegas. “Headlines, headlines for the fake news. No, it will be to serve twice. For the next four years, I will not rest. I will not yield, and together, we will not fail.”
Days after he won election to a second term, Trump also floated the idea of running again to House Republicans.
“I suspect I won’t be running again — unless you do something,” Trump said in November.
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, poured cold water on the idea. Serving a third term would require a constitutional amendment, he said.
"I haven't seen any wiggle room in it. Maybe he's seeing something I'm not, but I don't see it. So I don't know what his theory would be," Lee told reporters. "I can't imagine that he's actually pushing for" a constitutional amendment.
