Before officially pardoning his first Thanksgiving Turkey, the Minnesota-born Drumstick, on Tuesday, President Trump joked that he looked into revoking President Obama’s turkey pardon from last year.
Trump, standing alongside first lady Melania Trump and his 11-year-old son Barron, pointed out that in his first ten months in office he’s worked to overturn the executive actions of his predecessor, President Obama.
‘However, I have been informed by the White House counsel’s office that Tater and Tot’s pardoned cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked,’ the president joked, name-dropping the heir and the spare of last year’s turkey pardon.
President Trump joked Tuesday that he tried to revoke the pardons for President Obama’s still living pardoned turkeys, Tater and Tot, but White House counseled advised him against it
President Trump pardoned Drumstick, raised in Alexandria Minnesota by Carl Wittenburg (to Trump’s left), along with wife Sharlene and sons Nate and Wyatt
Eleven-year-old Barron Trump (left), who helped his mother welcome the White House Christmas tree Monday, appeared alongside his father President Trump (right) at Tuesday’s turkey pardoning
Ivanka Trump is seen with daughter Arabella, in matching red, Tuesday at the White House turkey pardoning in the Rose Garden
First daughter Ivanka Trump (left) is seen conserving with her husband Jared Kushner (right) at her father’s first turkey pardon of his administration
Trump, speaking for under 10 minutes, noted how the tradition of having a turkey presented to the president started 70 years ago during the administration of Harry S. Truman.
Truman, he noted, ‘did not grant the pardon,’ Trump said, describing the Democrat as a ‘tough cookie.’
‘Today I’m going to be a much nicer president,’ Trump said, complimenting himself.
On hand at today’s pardon was daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump, sitting alongside her husband, also a White House aide, Jared Kushner and daughter Arabella.
Carl Wittenburg, the National Turkey Foundation’s chairman, who raised the birds, said Wishbone and Drumstick were selected from a flock of 80 for ‘their character, their temperament, their showmanship and how they looked strutting their stuff.’
‘So that’s really what it gets down to,’ Wittenburg told DailyMail.com. ‘Can they handle the show.’
The two birds, raised by Wittenburg and his wife Sharlene, arrived in Washington, D.C., Sunday night and were put up in the lavish Willard Hotel, a turkey pardoning tradition.
A festively dressed Ivanka Trump is captured leaving her residence Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C.
Both Wishbone and Drumstick will live out the rest of their lives at Virginia Tech, home of the HokieBird (back right)
National Turkey Federation Chairman Carl Wittenburg, who grew Wishbone and Drumstick, welcomes the HokieBird, Virginia Tech’s mascot, to a press conference at the Willard Hotel
Wishbone and Drumstick show of their gobbling skills to reporters gathered at the Willard Hotel Monday morning in Washington
The Willard Hotel houses the two turkeys to be pardoned nearly every year. It’s a beautiful Beaux-Arts building located just a block down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House
On Monday, at a press conference at the Willard the birds names were announced and the White House put up a Twitter poll for Americans to vote on which turkey should get the official pardon.
Both birds, the star and the understudy, will get to lives out the rest of their lives at the ‘Gobbler’s Rest’ exhibit at Virginia Tech.
‘Beautiful place,’ Trump cooed.
Turkeys bred for slaughter are generally morbidly obese, with many of the presidents’ pardoned turkeys living less than a year.
However, last year’s birds, Tater and Tot, are still kicking it at Virginia Tech.
Wittenburg said he could tell the birds apart, as Drumstick is taller.
On Twitter, the White House described Drumstick as having a ‘tall and proud’ strut and being a lover of classic rock, especially the band Journey.
Wishbone shuffles when he walks, the White House said, and enjoys country music, including hits by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
While Wishbone wasn’t picked by the public, he also got a taste of fame Tuesday, appearing briefly alongside Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the White House briefing room.
During the Obama years, the White House also offered an online poll to have Americans decide which turkey the president would pardon.
As Trump mentioned, American presidents were annually presented with a turkey starting in 1947, though the event didn’t officially turn into a ‘pardoning’ ceremony until the Ronald Reagan years.
Reagan pardoned ‘Charlie’ the turkey in 1987.
President George H.W. Bush made it into an annual tradition when he took office in 1989.
And the tradition was respected through the Clinton and Bush 43 years.
President Obama tried to make the pardoning a family affair, having daughters Sasha and Malia participate for the first seven years he was in office.
Last year however, the girls, now in their teens, were replaced by younger models, with President Obama’s nephews Aaron and Austin Robinson standing alongside the president as he pardoned Tot.
During the Obama years the turkeys also got star treatment, staying at the Willard most years, or at the W, the more modern luxury hotel next door.