Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Johnson throws cold water on Trump 2028

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On Politics

Tue Oct 28 2025

Kathryn Palmer | Politics Reporter

@KathrynPlmr

Hello, readers! Politics reporter Kathryn Palmer here. Happy Tuesday and welcome to another day of OnPolitics. Election day is a week from today, when we'll be covering a handful of off-year races from California to New York. Here's the top headlines.

Johnson throws cold water on Trump 2028 talk

The Trump 2028 chatter continues, with House Speaker Mike Johnson weighing in this time.

The 79-year-old commander in chief made waves earlier in the week after he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Oct. 27 he "would love" to run in 2028, saying he has his "best numbers ever." Just a few days prior, Trump ally and influential MAGA figure Steve Bannon continued to stoke talk of a constitutionally forbidden third term in an interview with The Economist, saying, "Trump is going to be president in '28, and people just ought to get accommodated with that."

Johnson said Oct. 28 he doesn't believe Trump has any real inclination to attempt to defy the Constitution and run for a third term.

"There is the 22nd Amendment ," he told reporters at a news conference. "I think the president knows. And he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution."

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stands next to him aboard Air Force One en route to Tokyo, Japan, for the second stop on his Asia tour, October 27, 2025.

Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters

A politics pit stop

•	House GOP committee urges DOJ to investigate all Biden's executive actions in autopen probe report
•	Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo cuts Zohran Mamdani's lead in half in NYC mayor's race, according to new poll
•	Susan Page asks if the VA, NJ and CA elections next week offer clues about midterm 2028?
•	25 states are suing the administration over SNAP funding cutoff as shutdown enters Day 28
•	US kills 14 in strikes on alleged drug boats in Pacific, in the deadliest maritime attacks yet

Trump appeals hush money conviction

In an appeal of his 2024 criminal conviction, Trump is attacking various features of his New York hush money trial, and the list of grievances is long. In his argument, the president's legal team is arguing the verdict rested on a series of "fatal flaws," including about what evidence was allowed, the instructions the jury received and the judge's decision to stay on the case.

A 12-person Manhattan jury unanimously convicted Trump in May of 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a 2016 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump's then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels to stay quiet during Trump's first presidential campaign about an alleged sexual encounter she had with the real estate mogul. Trump has repeatedly denied that the encounter ever happened.

The president's lawyers are arguing that even though his conviction focused on his personal business' records tied to conduct before he took office, the jury scrutinized evidence of official presidential acts to reach guilty verdicts. They say it runs up against a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents can't be prosecuted for certain core parts of their presidencies and that evidence of presidential acts can't be presented to a jury.

Trump warns more troops could come to US cities

The president is threatening to send "more than the National Guard" to "troubled" U.S. cities, opening the door to potential escalations in his controversial campaign despite several court challenges and pushback from Democratic leaders.

"We're sending in our National Guard and if we need more than the National Guard, we'll send more than the National Guard because we're going to have safe cities," Trump said Oct. 28 at a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, during his weeklong Asia trip. "We're not going to have people killed in our cities. Whether people like that or not, that's what we're doing."

Trump has sent the National Guard to several large cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and Memphis to quell protests against stricter immigration enforcement. Mayors and governors from all but Memphis have opposed the deployments and challenged them in federal courts with mixed results.

Questions, comments, tips? Email me at kapalmer@usatoday.com.