GOP senator: Trump ‘wasn’t advocating’ for third term

Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) on Monday argued President Trump “wasn’t advocating” for a third term when he floated a possible 2028 run over the weekend, adding that such a move would require a “highly unlikely” change to the Constitution.

“The president was responding to a question. He wasn’t advocating for that,” Husted told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” 

“We all know that you would have to change the Constitution,” he continued. “And that would be highly unlikely.”

Trump, during a phone interview with NBC News on Sunday, said there are potential workarounds to allow him to serve a third term.

“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump said. “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.”

When asked to clarify, Trump maintained that he was “not joking” and told the network that there are “methods which you could do it.”

Trump pointed to one where Vice President Vance runs for the White House and passes off the job to him. 

“But there are others, too,” Trump added, declining to go any further or list any other avenues. 

Any change to the Constitution would need either a two-thirds vote of Congress or two-thirds of the states calling a constitutional convention to lay out possible alterations. The change would then need to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.