WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump pardoned two giant white-plumed turkeys named Gobble and Waddle on Tuesday, sparing them from Thanksgiving dinner tables and adding to more than 1,600 pardons he has granted this term.
The birds, weighing more than 23 kilograms each, were raised on a farm in North Carolina and spent the night before the ceremony in beds at the upscale Willard InterContinental Hotel near the White House.
Taking part in an annual tradition begun by then-President George H.W. Bush in 1989, Trump joked that he initially wanted to rename the birds Chuck and Nancy, an apparent reference to foes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats.
"But then I realized I wouldn't be pardoning them," Trump said at the Rose Garden event. "I would never pardon those two people." In his second term, Trump has issued pardons to, among others, allies in his bid to overturn his 2020 election loss and about 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
As cost-of-living concerns dominate news headlines ahead of next year's midterm elections, Trump reiterated that this year's Thanksgiving meal would be more affordable for Americans.
He cited a Walmart study that found a 25 percent drop in the meal's expense over last year but made cost-saving substitutions to the menu. The annual American Farm Bureau Federation survey last week put the savings at 5 percent for a total of $55.18.
Trump also re-pardoned Peach and Blossom, the turkeys given a pass by former President Joe Biden last year. In an ongoing attack, Trump claimed without basis those pardons were invalid because his Democratic predecessor used an automated signing device.
The two birds pardoned on Tuesday will live out their days at North Carolina State University's agriculture college, according to the National Turkey Federation.
