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.
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.
Trump was headed to his Florida estate later Tuesday for Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, related to the first family a tweet - and the embedded article in the tweet:
https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/status/932979528498073600
Friend of mine posted this headline:
President Trump Orders the Execution of Five Turkeys Pardoned by Obama
I seriously considered that he just pardoned a drumstick and a wishbone and sent the rest to the kitchen. The scary thing is that I wasn’t even surprised.
A white turkey. Why am I not surprised?
Same here.