Donald Trump says he’s considering ways to serve a third term as president

Donald Trump has said he is “not joking” about trying to serve a third term as US president.

“There are methods which you could do it,” he said in a telephone interview with NBC News, in the clearest indication yet that he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends in 2029.

But he added: “It is far too early to think about it.”

The 22nd Amendment, which was added to the constitution in 1951 after Franklin D Roosevelt was elected as president four times in a row, says: “No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.”

NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Mr Trump if one potential route to a third term was having vice president JD Vance run for the top job and “then pass the baton to you”.

“Well, that’s one,” the president responded. “But there are others too. There are others.”

“Can you tell me another?” she asked.

“No,” he replied.

Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, noted that 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”.

Prof Muller said that indicates that if Mr Trump is not eligible to run for president again because of the 22nd Amendment, he is not eligible to run for vice president either.

“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” Prof Muller said.

In addition, pursuing a third term would require extraordinary acquiescence 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”.

“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.

Mr Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his second term, was asked whether he would want to keep serving in “the toughest job in the country” at that point.

“Well, I like working,” the president said.

He suggested Americans would go along with a third term because of his popularity, and falsely claimed to have “the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years”.

Gallup data shows George W Bush reaching a 90% approval rating after the attacks on September 11 2001. His father, George HW Bush, hit 89% after the Gulf War in 1991.

Mr Trump has peaked at 47% in Gallup data during his second term, despite claiming to be “in the high 70s in many polls, in the real polls”.

He has mused before about serving longer than two terms, generally with jokes to friendly audiences.

“Am I allowed to run again?” he said during a House of Representatives Republican retreat in January.