White House says US would be 'lucky' if Trump stayed for third term

The US would be 'lucky' if Donald Trump remained in office for a constitutionally prohibited third term, the White House has said following revelations that he discussed the possibility with the lawyer and constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz.

"There has never been an Administration that has accomplished as much in less than one year than the Trump Administration," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios. "The American people would be lucky to have President Trump in office for even longer."

The 22nd amendment to the US constitution states that 'no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.'

But Dershowitz argued a different interpretation when presenting Trump with a copy of his book, entitled Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term? — due to be published next year — in a meeting in the Oval Office.

"I said 'it's not clear if a president can become a third-term president and it's not clear if it's permissible,'" Dershowitz told the Wall Street Journal. "He found it interesting as an intellectual issue."

Dershowitz said he had shown a draft of the book to Miriam Adelson, the Republican megadonor who gave Trump's campaign more than $100m in 2024 and is the widow of the late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

While glancing at the book, Adelson said: 'Is this real? Oh my god, I hope this can happen.'

Later, when Trump brought Adelson on stage during the party, she confirmed she had spoken with Dershowitz. 'I said, "Alan, I agree with you. So we can do it."' Her comments were met by chants of 'four more years' from the assembled crowd, at which point Adelson told Trump: 'Think about it.'