Could Donald Trump run for a third term?

Published

4 months ago

March 31, 2025

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Donald Trump is one of two presidents to serve two non-consecutive terms, second only to Grover Cleveland, who did it in the 1800s.

But Mr Trump has made comments hinting at a third term in office.

An amendment to the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the United States, prohibits anyone from serving for more than two terms.

But what has the president said, how likely is he to pursue a third term in 2028 – and is it even possible?

Has a third term been done before?

Franklin Roosevelt served as US president four times from 1933 to 1945, because there was nothing in the original US Constitution that limited how many terms a president could serve.

But later the 22nd amendment limited presidents to two four-year terms, irrespective of whether they were served consecutively or not.

Congress passed the 22nd amendment two years after Roosevelt’s death and it took effect from the 1952 election.

No one has been able to serve more than two terms since.

The amendment states “no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice”.

What has Trump said?

The president made his most direct comments yet about seeking a third term in an interview with Sky News’ US partner NBC News on Sunday 30 March.

When asked about the possibility, he said: “A lot of people want me to do it. But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.

“I’m focused on the current,” he added.

When asked whether he wanted another term, the president responded, “I like working.”

“I’m not joking,” Mr Trump said, when asked to clarify. “But I’m not – it is far too early to think about it.”

When asked whether he has been presented with plans to allow him to seek a third term, Mr Trump said, there are “methods which you could do it”.

NBC News asked about a possible scenario in which vice president JD Vance would run for office and then pass the role to Mr Trump. Mr Trump responded that “that’s one” method.

“But there are others, too,” he added.

Asked to share another method, he simply responded “no.”

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Some of Mr Trump’s allies have been vocal in their support for him pursuing a third term.

Steve Bannon, a former Trump strategist who runs the right-wing War Room podcast, called for the president to run again during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, adding in a later interview with News Nation that he believed the president would “run and win again in 2028”.

Republican congressman Andy Ogles crafted a resolution calling for the extension of presidential term limits, which would allow Trump to seek another term in office.

Could Trump do it if he wanted to?

It would be “virtually impossible”, retired Commonwealth Court judge Joseph Cosgrove tells Sky News.

He would have to amend the Constitution to do it, which Mr Cosgrove says is an “arduous task”.

“The usual method requires two-thirds of both the House and Senate to propose an amendment, which would then require three-fourths of the states to approve,” he explains.

“Given the extremely close political divisions in the United States, neither of these events is foreseeable. Even if the Republicans control both the House and Senate, their majority will be so slim that no revision of the 22nd amendment could ever occur in this climate.”

Mr Fortier, who agreed with Mr Cosgrove’s points, says some legal scholars have suggested there are loopholes that could be exploited to get around the two-term limit.

“They argue that the 22nd amendment prohibits someone from running for a third term [but] not from serving a third term,” he says.

“And by an ingenious trick, a term-limited president could be elected to the vice presidency or placed in the line of succession and then ascend to the presidency when those ahead of him in the line of succession resign.”

This is the method Mr Trump alluded to, in which Mr Vance would be elected president in 2028 with Mr Trump as his vice president, before switching positions.

Mr Fortier says that this theory, however, ignores a number of other amendments and other constitutional laws which indicate that a vice president or someone else in the line of succession “must meet the qualifications to become president”.

And Mr Trump, or someone else who has already served two terms as president, would not meet that criteria thanks to the 22nd amendment.

Additionally, Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, notes the 12th amendment, which was ratified in 1804, says “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States.”

This means that because Mr Trump is not able to be president in 2028, he also cannot be vice president, Prof Muller explains.

“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” he continues, adding that pursuing a third term would require extraordinary acceptance by federal and state officials, not to mention the courts and voters themselves.

He suggested Mr Trump is talking about a third term for political reasons to “show as much strength as possible” rather than with the intention of running again.

“A lame-duck president like Donald Trump has every incentive in the world to make it seem like he’s not a lame duck,” he said.

Democratic congressman Daniel Goldman, who served as lead counsel for Mr Trump’s first impeachment, said in a statement: “This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy.

“If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term.”

What has the president said in the past?

It was in the lead-up to the 2020 election, which Mr Trump lost to Joe Biden, that he first started hinting at seeking a third term.

At a rally in August 2020, he told supporters he would win the next election and then possibly “go for another four years” because “they spied on my campaign”, an apparent nod to his unsubstantiated claims that Barack Obama had his “wires tapped” before he was elected in 2016.

According to Forbes, Mr Trump told another rally that if he were to win the 2020 election, he would “negotiate” a third term, adding he was “probably entitled to another four [years] after that” based on “the way we were treated”.

But in an interview in 2023 with NBC News, Mr Trump was asked if there was any scenario in which he would seek a third term should he win the presidency next year, to which he responded: “No.”

And in April 2024 he told Time magazine he “wouldn’t be in favour” of an extended term – but two vague comments he made in speeches last year stoked rumours he could try it.

One was during a National Rifle Association speech, when he asked supporters if he would be considered “three-term or two-term” – though this appeared to be in reference to his unsubstantiated claims that he should have won the 2020 election but that it was rigged against him.

Another came in July, when he told attendees at a conservative Christian event they wouldn’t “have to vote anymore” if he won the 2024 election, according to CBS News.

After repeatedly telling them to vote “just this time”, he added: “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”

John Fortier, senior research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, says the comments from the Christian event have been taken out of context, and that Mr Trump was simply trying to “encourage the sometimes reluctant Christian community to vote in this election”.

“Trump in office would be able to address their concerns so much so that it would not matter if they chose to vote in future elections,” he explains.

“It was not an indication that Trump would cancel future elections or try to serve beyond his second term.”

US

Powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake causes tsunami in Russia’s Far East – with warnings issued for Japan, Hawaii and Alaska

Published

12 hours ago

July 30, 2025

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Powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake causes tsunami in Russia's Far East - with warnings issued for Japan, Hawaii and Alaska

A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has struck off Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, causing a tsunami.

A tsunami of up to four metres (13 feet) was recorded in Kamchatka Peninsula, leading to evacuations and damaging buildings, officials said.

Tsunami warnings have been issued for Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii and parts of Alaska in the US.

The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management in Hawaii has called for the evacuation of some coastal areas, writing on X: “Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected.”

The first waves in Hawaii are expected to hit at 7pm local time (6am UK time).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said waves of one to three meters (three to 10 feet) above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands.

Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov had earlier said: “Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors.”

Follow latest: Tsunami live updates

Several people in the region sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister told Russia’s Tass state news agency.

“Unfortunately, there are some people injured during the seismic event. Some were hurt while running outside, and one patient jumped out of a window. A woman was also injured inside the new airport terminal,” Mr Melnikov said.

Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street, while cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed on roads and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.

Power outages and mobile phone service failures were also reported in the capital of the Kamchatka region.

The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko.

He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.

A regional branch of Russia’s geophysical service has said that “significant, noticeable” aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 7.5 after expected to continue for at least another month.

Japan issued a tsunami warning, saying it expects waves as high as three metres to arrive along large coastal areas along the Pacific Ocean.

It has ordered the evacuation of some areas.

The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands.

A tsunami warning also was extended to the US state of Hawaii, with the National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying a tsunami from the quake had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.

A tsunami “watch” was issued for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred about 125 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 along the coast of Avacha Bay. It revised the magnitude up twice from 8.0 and 8.7 to 8.8 earlier.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s disaster management agency has warned that the country’s coastal areas could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore”.

In a national advisory alert, Civil Defence New Zealand said there was no immediate need to evacuate but said citizens should stay away from beaches and shore areas.

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US

Trump claims Epstein ‘stole’ Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago resort

Published

12 hours ago

July 30, 2025

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Trump claims Epstein 'stole' Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago resort

Donald Trump has claimed billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “stole” prominent accuser Virginia Giuffre and other young women from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Ms Giuffre became a household name after she sued Prince Andrew for sexual abuse in August 2021 – saying he had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend Epstein.

Prince Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre but has repeatedly denied the claims and has not been charged with any criminal offences.

Mr Trump made his remarks about Ms Giuffre as his administration has faced growing pressure in recent weeks, including from within his “MAGA” base, to release files related to Epstein after he promised to do so during his 2024 presidential campaign.

The US president was speaking to reporters on Tuesday when he was asked about comments he made over the weekend about a falling-out with Epstein over employees taken from his business.

“He took people that worked for me. And I told him, ‘Don’t do it anymore.’ And he did it,” Mr Trump told reporters while on board Air Force One as he returned to the US from Scotland.

“I said, ‘Stay the hell out of here’,” the US president added.

Pressed about whether any of the employees he referred to were young women, Mr Trump said many of them worked in the spa at Mar-a-Lago.

“The answer is yes, they were in the spa,” he said. “I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa.’ … And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again.”

Asked if Ms Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, the US president replied: “I think she worked at the spa… I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her, and by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.”

The White House said in a statement last week that Mr Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a “creep”.

Epstein took his own life in a Manhattan prison cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

On Tuesday, lawyer’s for his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for recruiting young girls for the financier, said that they are open to her answering more questions from US Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution.

However a spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, which requested the interview with Maxwell, said the panel would not consider granting the immunity she requested.

The former British socialite was interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week.

Officials have not publicly disclosed what she said.

Mr Blanche had earlier said that Maxwell would be interviewed because of Mr Trump’s directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes in relation to the Epstein case.

Separately, Maxwell’s lawyers have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial.

They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public”, is in the event of a pardon by Mr Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it.

What had Ms Giuffre said about Mar-a-Lago?

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life in April, claimed Maxwell spotted her while she was working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago when she was a teenager in 2000.

She added that Maxwell hired her as Epstein’s masseuse, which led to sexual abuse.

She accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with powerful men.

Why is the Epstein case such a problem for Trump?

Rumours have circulated since Epstein’s death about who he may have supplied underage girls to and who visited his private island.

Some of those rumours quickly spiralled into conspiracy theories, which Mr Trump fanned the flames of during his campaign for a second term.

Mr Trump promised to release more Epstein files to the public if he was elected president for a second time – but is now facing a backlash from his voter base after carrying out a complete U-turn on the move.

US

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs asks judge to release him on $50m bond as he awaits sentencing

Published

14 hours ago

July 30, 2025

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs asks judge to release him on m bond as he awaits sentencing

Disgraced hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has asked a judge to release him on a $50m bond as he waits to be sentenced for prostitution-related offences.

Combs’s lawyer has argued that conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn are dangerous and noted that others convicted of similar offences were typically released before sentencing.

“Sean Combs should not be in jail for this conduct,” Marc Agnifilo said in a court filing on Tuesday.

“In fact, he may be the only person currently in a United States jail for being any sort of John, and certainly the only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend.”

A “John” in the US is a slang term for somebody who hires a prostitute.

A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office in Manhattan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors have previously insisted he remains a flight risk and should therefore not be granted bail.

The 55-year-old, one of the most influential hip-hop producers of all time, faces up to a decade in prison after he was convicted earlier this month of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

The charges relate to how he flew people around the US, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, for sexual encounters.

Combs was cleared of three more serious charges – two for sex trafficking and one for racketeering conspiracy – following his landmark trial in New York.

A conviction on one of those charges could have put him in prison for life.

Immediately after he was acquitted of those charges on 2 July, Mr Agnifilo had asked that Combs be released on bond.

But Judge Arun Subramanian denied it, saying Combs at the time had not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community”.

Combs is the latest celebrity inmate to be locked up at MDC Brooklyn, the only federal jail in New York City, joining a list that includes R Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.