The White House has said that the United States “would be lucky” to have President Donald Trump in office for “even longer,” despite the Constitution limiting him to two terms.
Over the last year, the president has floated the idea of running for a third term, riling up the media and opponents – though both he and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have also publicly acknowledged that legally he cannot.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump’s former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, gave the president a draft copy of a book that explored the constitutionality of a third-term president.
Dershowitz’s upcoming book, “Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?” studies potential legal routes that the president could attempt if he wished to run again. The former Harvard law professor, who represented Trump during his first impeachment trial, told the WSJ that he spoke with Trump about those scenarios in the Oval Office.
When asked if Trump would run a third term, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios: “There has never been an Administration that has accomplished as much in less than one year than the Trump Administration. The American people would be lucky to have President Trump in office for even longer.”
Jackson did not outright say whether or not Trump would run again, but the president has said himself he is “not allowed” to do so. Wiles also said in her recent interview with Vanity Fair the president would not run again.
Yet, Dershowitz told the WSJ that he offered his conclusions to the president, adding that “it’s not clear if a president can become a third-term president and it’s not clear if it’s permissible.”
Section one of the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” It also says any person who has served as president, or acting president, for more than two years of a term shall not be elected to the office more than once.
Dershowitz said Trump “found it interesting as an intellectual issue,” but he felt the president would not run again.
“Do I think he’s going to run for a third term? No, I don’t think he will run for a third term,” the lawyer told the WSJ.
Despite these assurances, Trump continues to raise the idea. Wiles told Vanity Fair that the president is “having fun” with floating the idea because he knows it’s “driving people crazy.”
