Topline
President Donald Trump said that billionaire Miriam Adelson offered him $250 million to run for a third term after the Republican megadonor mentioned “four more years” for him at the White House’s Hanukkah reception on Tuesday night, something the president and his allies have frequently hinted at despite Constitution’s 22nd Amendment disallowing a third presidential term.
US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli-US billionaire and GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson to the stage during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Adelson said she spoke with criminal defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz and discussed the “legal thing about four more years.”
“Alan, I agree with you,” she said before turning to the president, who was standing beside her, and added, “ So, we can do it, think about it.”
This prompted a brief chant of “four more years” from some members of the crowd, as Trump smiled and pointed at them.
Adelson then whispered something to Trump, and the president then quipped, “She said, ‘Think about it, I’ll give you another $250 million,’” drawing laughter from the audience.
The billionaire donor then swiftly responded, “I will give.”
What Else Did Trump Say At The Hanukkah Reception?
The president praised the billionaire’s late husband, Sheldon Adelson, who was also a major GOP donor, saying: “Sheldon was an amazing guy, and he’d come up to the office, and there was nobody more aggressive than Sheldon.” Trump talked about how Adelson would push for meetings with him at the White House, and “he’d always say 10 minutes, it turned out to be about an hour-and-a-half, and what he did is he fought for Israel…He just wanted to take care of Israel.” In his speech at the event, Trump said: “If you go back 10, 12, 15 years ago at the most, the strongest lobby in Washington was the Jewish lobby. It was Israel. That’s no longer true.” The president then claimed, without citing any evidence, that Congress “is becoming antisemitic.”
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