President Donald Trump said he was not kidding about wanting to get a third presidential term, which is prohibited by the US Constitution, but that it was too early to think about it.
Trump, who took office on January 20 for his second, non-consecutive term in the White House, has hinted at seeking a third term, but in a phone interview with NBC News he directly addressed it.
"No, I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. "There are ways you could do it, you know," Trump said, declining to specify what methods he was referring to.
The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits presidents to two four-year terms, whether consecutive or not.
A proposal to repeal the constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress and ratification by the legislatures of three-quarters of the 50 U.S. states.
Some Trump allies have floated the idea of keeping Trump in the White House beyond 2028, and the president has also repeatedly raised the idea in a way that seemed to mock his political opponents.
In 1796, George Washington set the precedent for two presidential terms. This is a self-imposed limit, and it was observed by most U.S. presidents for more than 140 years until Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.
He served as president during the Great Depression and World War II, breaking with tradition and serving a third term until his death in 1945. This paved the way for the Constitutional amendment to impose term limits in 1951.
Longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon said in an interview with NewsNation on March 19 that he believes Trump will run again in 2028.
Bannon said he and others are looking at ways to make that happen, including exploring the definition of term limits.