With just two months until he leaves office, President Joe Biden is gearing up to utilize his presidential pardon power for fowl reasons.
Justice will be served Monday as Biden pardons the national Thanksgiving turkeys on the White House South Lawn, CNN has exclusively learned, participating in the 77th annual tradition of the turkey presentation, according to a White House official.
The president will talk turkey and make much ado about stuffing at his fourth and final Thanksgiving roast, a yearly opportunity for a cornucopia of puns and a moment to give thanks – providing some levity amid a range of global crises and the aftermath of a hectic campaign season.
Weighing in at 40 and 41 pounds, this year’s birds were hatched in July in Northfield, Minnesota, and will ride the gravy train to Washington over the weekend, according to Alex Davidson, a spokesperson for the National Turkey Federation. They’ll spend the customary night in a luxe suite at the nearby Willard Hotel, where their names will be unveiled at a press conference. They will be presented to Biden by National Turkey Federation chair John Zimmerman, who raised the turkeys on his independent farm.
Following their expected pardon, both turkeys will retreat to Farmamerica, an agricultural interpretative center in southern Minnesota, Davidson said.
Rumors of turkey pardons go back in presidential history as far as Abraham Lincoln’s administration. Folklore has it that Lincoln’s young son asked his father to spare a pet turkey that was supposed to be part of their Thanksgiving dinner.