Trump says 'it's too bad' he can't run for third term
Gyeongju(South Korea)(AP): President Donald Trump said Wednesday that “it's too bad” he's not allowed to run for a third term, conceding the constitutional reality even as he expressed interest in continuing to serve.
"If you read it, it's pretty clear," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One enroute from Japan to South Korea. “I'm not allowed to run. It's too bad.”
The president's comments, which continue his on-again, off-again musings about a third term, came a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson said it would be impossible for Trump to stay in the White House.
“I don't see the path for that," he told reporters at the US Capitol on Tuesday.
Johnson, the Republican leader who has built his career by drawing closer to Trump, said he discussed the issue with the president, and he thinks Trump understands the situation.
“He and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution," he said.
The speaker described how the Constitution's 22nd Amendment does not allow for a third presidential term and changing that, with a new amendment, would be a cumbersome, decade-long process winning over states and votes in Congress.
“But I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal,” he said. “We're going to deliver for the American people, and we've got a great run ahead of us — he'll have four strong years.”
Trump stopped short of characterizing his conversation with Johnson, and his description of the prohibition on third terms was somewhat less definitive.
“Based on what I read, I guess I'm not allowed to run," he said Wednesday. "So we'll see what happens.”
Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of trying to stay in power. Hats saying “Trump 2028” are passed out as souvenir keepsakes to lawmakers and others visiting the White House, and Trump's former 2016 campaign chief-turned-podcaster Stephen Bannon has revived the idea of a third Trump term.
Trump told reporters Monday on Air Force One on his trip to Japan that “I would love to do it.”
He went on to say that his Republican Party has great options for the next presidential election — in Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was traveling with him, and Vice President JD Vance, who visited with senators at the Capitol on Tuesday.
“All I can tell you is that we have a great group of people,” Trump said.
Pressed if he was ruling out a third-term bid, Trump demurred. Asked about a strategy where he could run as vice president, which could be allowed under the laws, and then work himself in the presidency, he dismissed the idea as “too cute.”
“You'd be allowed to do that, but I wouldn't do that,” he said.
The chit chat comes as Trump, in his words and actions, is showing just how far he can push the presidency — and daring anyone to stop him.
He is sending National Guard troops to cities over the objections of several state governors; accepting untold millions in private donations to pay the military and fund the new White House ballroom, picking winners and losers in the government shutdown.
Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who rose swiftly to become House speaker with Trump's blessing, dismissed worries about a potential third term by the president's critics whose “hair is on fire."
“He has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats," Johnson said.
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Cong takes dig at govt after Trump's 'India to buy Venezuelan oil' remark'
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Sunday took a swipe at the Modi government over US President Donald Trump's remarks that India is going to buy oil from Venezuela instead of Iran, saying the American leader continues to give “information on what our own government has done or will be doing”.
The opposition party's dig came after Trump, responding to a question, told reporters while travelling on Air Force One, "China is welcome to come in and we'll make a great deal on oil. We welcome China."
"We've already made a deal. India is coming in, and they're going to be buying Venezuelan oil as opposed to buying it from Iran. So, we've already made that deal, the concept of the deal," Trump said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared the audio of Trump's remarks on X.
"He (Trump) told us Op Sindoor had been halted. He told us India had stopped buying Russian oil. And now this," the Congress leader said.
"President Trump continues to give us information on what our own government has done or will be doing," Ramesh said on X.
