During Tuesday night’s Hanukkah ceremony at the White House, President Trump called Israeli-American billionaire Miriam Adelson, who donated a staggering $250 million to his campaign, up on stage. Right there, in front of everyone, she stated that she had spoken with Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz about the legality of a third term and expressed confidence he should pursue it. In fact, she offered President Trump an additional $250 million to run again.
The announcement sparked excitement in the room at the prospect of a third term. Constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz has been conducting legal research on whether a fourth term for Trump would be possible. He has compiled a book outlining scenarios where a president might serve a third term, including if Congress were to decide presidential election results or if President Trump was elected Speaker of the House and the sitting president resigned.
President Trump received a draft of Dershowitz’s book this week. Dershowitz stated that President Trump does not intend to run again. “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 explained, noting his prior role as defense counsel for the president during impeachment proceedings. After their discussion, Trump moved to other topics, prompting Dershowitz to add, “He found it interesting as an intellectual issue. Do I think he’s going to run for a third term? No, I don’t think he will run for a third term.”
Trump told reporters in October that the Constitution is “pretty clear” he’s “not allowed to run.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson noted the country would be lucky if he served a longer period of time, while chief of staff Susie Wiles stated Trump knows he cannot run again.
Dershowitz described scenarios in his book where Trump could become president again, including one involving electoral college abstentions and congressional selection. The National Constitution Center reports only twice in U.S. history have electors abstained from voting for a living pledged candidate, with none resulting in Congress deciding an election. Hofstra University law professor James Sample labeled Dershowitz’s idea “absurd” but acknowledged the sole plausible scenario: if allies like JD Vance or Donald Trump Jr. ran with plans to resign upon taking office and allow Trump to be elected Speaker of the House without congressional membership, thereby enabling succession.