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House Speaker Mike Johnson says he doesn’t see a constitutional way for Donald Trump to serve a third term in the White House, even as the president himself has said he “would love to do it.”
At a news conference Tuesday, MSNBC’s Mychael Schnell asked the Louisiana Republican: “Trump floated running for president again in 2028. Are you comfortable with those comments? And you’re a constitutional lawyer — would that violate the Constitution?”
“Well, there is the 22nd Amendment,” Johnson immediately replied, referring to the constitutional amendment that says nobody “shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
He added:
It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows. And he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that. ... I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about 10 years to do that. ... So, I don’t see the path for that.
Johnson’s remarks stand in direct contrast to those made by the president and some of his allies. The speaker’s comments are especially notable since he is a staunch Trump supporter who rarely publicly breaks with the president.
Last week, former White House adviser Steve Bannon told The Economist that “Trump is going to be president in ’28, and people just ought to get accommodated with that.” He added: “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is.”
Late last month, Trump hosted a meeting in the Oval Office with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in which “Trump 2028” red hats were placed on his desk.
“It was the random-most thing in the world, because we’re sitting there, we’re having a serious conversation, and all of a sudden these two red hats appear,” Jeffries said. “It was all so unserious.”