Melania Trump Joins Donald for Turkey Pardon on the Rose Garden Patio Before Thanksgiving Trip to Mar-a-Lago

President Donald Trump granted a full “pardon” to two turkeys, Gobble and Waddle, during the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 25.

Continuing the holiday tradition, the president and first lady Melania Trump appeared in the Rose Garden to officially spare the birds from becoming part of a Thanksgiving feast. Instead of heading to the dinner table, Gobble and Waddle were brought to Washington, D.C., for a plush stay at The Willard InterContinental Hotel.

According to the Office of the First Lady, the turkeys were raised in North Carolina under the guidance of National Turkey Federation Chairman Jay Jandrain and Butterball contract grower Travis Pittman. Although Gobble took center stage during the ceremony, both birds will return to North Carolina, where they will live out their days under the care of the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University.

Following the event, the Trumps planned to travel to their Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where they are scheduled to stay until Sunday. On Thanksgiving Day, they are expected to observe a more recent presidential custom by calling U.S. service members from their home.

The White House Historical Association notes that the turkey pardon has gradually evolved into the formal ceremony it is today. One popular origin story credits President Abraham Lincoln with sparing a turkey at the request of his son Tad in 1863, a moment often cited as the symbolic beginning of the tradition.

Trump last conducted the event in 2020, when he pardoned two turkeys named Corn and Cob in the Rose Garden with just weeks remaining in his term. At that ceremony, he praised Corn as a “lucky bird” while granting the official pardon.

This year’s turkey presentation came one day after Melania Trump welcomed the 2025 White House Christmas tree, sourced from Michigan-based Korson’s Tree Farms. The arrival of the tree signals the upcoming reveal of this year’s holiday décor, an element of the first lady’s role that has drawn intense public attention in the past. During Trump’s first term, her dramatic red, cone-shaped Christmas trees sparked comparisons to the imagery in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

At the time, the White House explained that the vivid red color represented the “pales, or stripes, found in the presidential seal designed by our Founding Fathers” and was intended as a symbol of valor and bravery.