WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is using his pardon power to keep a pair of turkeys from the Thanksgiving roaster.
Trump continued the annual presidential tradition during an event Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden. The act of leniency means 47-pound Drumstick and 36-pound Wishbone will instead get to live the rest of their lives at a Virginia farm. First lady Melania Trump and son Barron joined the president for the light-hearted ceremony.
"“As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning some of my predecessor’s executive actions,” Trump joked, adding that the White House counsel informed him that “Tater and Tot’s pardons cannot under any circumstances be revoked.”
The White House sought public input to determine which gobbler should be pardoned. Trump says Drumstick was the winner, though both birds usually are given a reprieve.
President George H. W. Bush established the annual turkey pardon tradition in 1989 when he spared an unnamed, 50-pound turkey.
Thanksgiving, a national holiday in the United States, is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the country, with turkey as the most common main dish for a dinner on the festival
