President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Tuesday to continue the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, turning part of the event into a jab at former President Joe Biden’s “autopen” pardon from last year.
According to the New York Post, Trump opened by revisiting last year’s turkeys, Peach and Blossom, claiming their previous pardon “was totally invalid” because it had been signed using an autopen.
“The turkeys… were on their way to be processed… but I have stopped that journey, and I am officially pardoning them, and they will not be served as Thanksgiving dinner,” he joked.
The president has repeatedly criticized Biden’s use of the device, even replacing Biden’s portrait with an autopen image in the White House gallery as a tongue-in-cheek protest.
This year’s turkeys, Gobble and Waddle, received the ceremonial pardon in the Rose Garden before reporters, staff, and families. Trump briefly toyed with naming the birds after Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but decided against it.
“When I first saw their pictures… I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy, but then I realized I wouldn’t be pardoning them. I would never pardon those two people,” he quipped.
The ceremony, while lighthearted, also carried Trump’s usual political commentary. He joked that staffers had drafted paperwork to send the turkeys to El Salvador, referencing his immigration policies, and criticized Illinois Democratic leaders in a series of colorful remarks.
Gobble and Waddle, described as the plumpest turkeys ever pardoned, are part of Trump’s long history of clemency gestures, which include roughly 1,700 pardons and numerous commutations during his second term.
After the ceremony, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump planned to celebrate Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago.
While the turkey pardon continues as a time-honored tradition, this year’s event spotlighted Trump’s ongoing mockery of Biden’s autopen, turning a festive holiday ritual into a political punchline.
