President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued a 30-year Thanksgiving season tradition while wisecracking about the historic impeachment inquiry against him, saying the turkeys up for a presidential pardon were raised to remain calm under pressure and ready to testify.
“They’ve already received subpoenas to appear in Adam Schiff’s basement on Thursday,” Trump quipped, referencing the House Intelligence Committee chairman leading public hearings over the last two weeks. “The Democrats are accusing me of being too soft on Turkey, but Bread and Butter, unlike previous witnesses, you and I have actually met.”
Trump, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, offered the winning Butter a “full and complete pardon,” describing Bread as an “alternate.”
Wellie Jackson and his family raised the turkeys at their North Carolina farm, said Trump, who wished the country a happy Thanksgiving.
According to the White House, the 47-pound Butter stuffs himself with sweet potato fries and enjoys bagpipes and NASCAR. Meanwhile the 45-pound Bread listens to bluegrass and watches college basketball.
Trump said the turkeys will retire at Gobblers Rest, which multiple reports note is already home to last year’s honorees, Peas and Carrots.
Legend holds that Abraham Lincoln was the first president to spare a turkey, at the request of his son, Trump said. President Harry Truman accepted the first annual national Thanksgiving Turkey, and several presidents “showed mercy to their birds,” Trump said, before President George H.W. Bush in 1989 “first issued an official pardon.”
President Barack Obama during his two terms in office infused a series of “eye roll-worthy turkey-themed cracks” beside his daughters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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