Trump Pardons Thanksgiving Turkeys Gobble and Waddle at the White House, Each Bird Weighing Over 50 Pounds
At noon on November 25, 2025, President Donald J. Trump hosted the 78th National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington and granted a full, absolute, and unconditional presidential pardon to two Thanksgiving turkeys, Gobble and Waddle. The ceremony began at 12:07 p.m. and was attended by Vice President JD Vance and his family, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Cabinet members.
Trump said in his remarks that the birds were two of the largest turkeys ever presented to an American President, over 50 pounds each. The National Turkey Federation said Gobble weighs 52 pounds and Waddle 50 pounds, and that both were raised in Wayne County, North Carolina, by Travis Pittman, a contract grower for Butterball; the federation's chairman, Butterball president and CEO Jay Jandrain, presented the turkeys to the President at the ceremony. Trump also joked that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had formally certified them as the first-ever MAHA turkeys.
In his remarks, Trump also joked about last year's pardons, saying former President Joe Biden had used an autopen for the turkeys' pardon last year and that those pardons were totally invalid, and announced that he was officially pardoning last year's turkeys, Peach and Blossom, as well.
The National Turkey Federation said that after receiving their pardons, Gobble and Waddle will return to North Carolina to live at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, under the care of the Prestage Department of Poultry Science, serving as agricultural education ambassadors. The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation began in 1947, making this year's ceremony the 78th.
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年11月25日，白宫全国感恩节火鸡呈递仪式上的火鸡（白宫官方照片）。白宫摄，公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A turkey at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation at the White House on November 25, 2025 (official White House photo). By the White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
