Biden pardons turkeys in annual Thanksgiving tradition
STORY: The turkeys, Chocolate and Chip, weighed in at 46 and 47 pounds, respectively. They arrived in Washington over the weekend and stayed at the historic Willard Hotel.
In a pun-laden speech, Biden joked about the recent midterm elections.
"The votes are in. They've been counted and verified. There's no ballot stuffing. There's no fowl play. The only red wave this season is going to be when a German Shepherd, Commander, knocks over the cranberry sauce on our table," he said.
Chocolate and Chip will live out their retirement at North Carolina State University.
In 1947, President Harry Truman was the first recipient of a bird gifted by America's turkey farmers, a tradition that continued. In 1963, President John Kennedy decided to send his gift back to the farm where it came from.
George H.W. Bush was the first president to officially offer a turkey pardon at the White House in 1989. Barack Obama's pardons featured jokes that often had his daughters rolling their eyes at his side.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump emerged from a self-imposed isolation he began after losing the November presidential election to pardon Corn, a 42-pound (19-kg) turkey.
