Johnson says he’s spoken with Trump about ‘the constrictions of the Constitution’ on a third term
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday said he has spoken with Donald Trump about the possibility of the president seeking a third-term but that he sees no path for it as any change to the US Constitution would be well after Trump has left office.
“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,” said Johnson, who is a constitutional lawyer, in response to a question about his comfort-level with the president floating a 2028 bid.
The president, he said, is trolling members of the other party when he talks publicly about the topic.
“The Trump 2028 cap is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced. And he has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire about the very prospect,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Johnson said he had spoken with Trump Tuesday morning while the president is overseas in Japan, but he did not specify when the pair had discussed the Constitution.
Amending the Constitution, he noted, would be a lengthy and arduous process, saying, “I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about 10 years to do that, as you all know, to allow all the states to ratify … what two-thirds of the House, three-fourth of the states would approve. So I don’t, I don’t see the path for that.”
Trump on Monday continued to entertain the idea of running for a third term, telling reporters that he’d “love to do it.”
At the White House, Trump has joked about running for a third term and Trump 2028 hats are on display in a room near the Oval Office. Recently, Trump posted images of the ’28 hats on the Resolute Desk when the House and Senate minority leaders, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, came to the Oval Office.
