By Travis Gillmore
Contributing Writer
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, continued a White House tradition on Tuesday when he pardoned two turkeys just days before Thanksgiving.
“On behalf of the First Lady and the entire Trump family, I want to wish all Americans a very, very happy Thanksgiving,” Trump said. “It’s a great time of the year, and our country is doing very well.”
He honored the family-friendly Thanksgiving tradition and welcomed the guests of honor to the executive mansion.
“You are hereby unconditionally pardoned,” Trump said during the ceremony, which included live music from the U.S. Marine Corps Band.
“This is a big day. It’s a pardon day for a very important beast.”
Named Gobble and Waddle, the plump birds will enjoy life at North Carolina State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences after the president granted them a reprieve during a ceremony in the newly renovated Rose Garden.
Gobble lived up to his name as he sounded off repeatedly as the president spoke of his fate.
“That’s a well-trained turkey,” Trump said. “See how happy he is?”
The turkeys set a record for size for presidential turkeys, weighing more than 50 pounds each, according to Trump.
Travis and Amanda Pittman from Wayne County, North Carolina, raised the huge toms on their farm.
The two birds were presented to a crowd of supporters during a press conference at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, just blocks from the White House, on Monday.
Gobble and Waddle lounged in luxury overnight in a two-bed room at the five-star hotel, where stays cost between $400 and $12,000 per night, on average.
President Abraham Lincoln is credited with establishing the Thanksgiving holiday with his October 1863 proclamation.
Later that year, he pardoned a turkey — at the insistence of his son Tad — potentially destined for Christmas dinner, making him the first commander in chief to show grace in that manner.
The first Thanksgiving-related turkey event in the White House dates to 1947, when President Harry Truman was presented with the National Thanksgiving Turkey, but no mention was made of pardons.
President Ronald Reagan saved multiple turkeys during his eight years in office and was the first to use the term “pardon” in 1987. President George H.W. Bush started the annual tradition in 1989.
Two turkeys, Chocolate and Chip, were pardoned by President Joe Biden in 2022. He pardoned two in 2023, Liberty and Bell, and again in 2024 with Peach and Blossom.
Trump declared Biden’s 2024 pardons invalid because they were “signed by an autopen.” He then issued retroactive pardons for the two birds, “just in the nick of time.”
