WASHINGTON — Billionaire Miriam Adelson made a tongue-in-cheek offer Tuesday night to donate $250 million to support President Trump’s candidacy if he flouts the 22nd Amendment and seeks a third term in 2028.
“I met [former Harvard Law School professor] Alan Dershowitz. And he said the legal thing about four more years. And I say, ‘Alan, I agree with you.’ So we can do it. Think about it,” Adelson told Trump at a White House Hanukkah celebration.
As the guests chanted “four more years!”, Adelson made an additional inaudible comment to Trump.
“She said, ‘Think about it, I’ll give you another $250 million,’” the president told his guests.
“I will give,” the widow of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson confirmed into the microphone.
Adelson, who was born in Israel, and her family are worth nearly $42 billion, according to Forbes, and have strongly supported politicians who back the Jewish state, including Trump in his prior campaigns.
Trump, 79, has repeatedly teased a possible final candidacy — including hawking “Trump 2028” merchandise — despite the Constitution’s explicit provision that no person can be elected president three or more times.
Dershowitz could not immediately be reached for comment on his legal theory for how Trump could stay in power through January 2033.
Trump has vacillated between insisting he’s serious about running again and conceding that he probably cannot legally do so.
While traveling in Asia in October, Trump ruled out the most-discussed option of running as Vice President JD Vance’s running mate to get around the 22nd Amendment’s restriction on being “elected” twice, and then having Vance resign so he could retake power.
“I think the people wouldn’t like that,” he told reporters at the time. “It’s too cute. It wouldn’t be right.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair published Tuesday, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles insisted that Trump has no interest in seeking a third term, but added that “he sure is having fun with it.”
