Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2025
November 25, 2025
The President. All right. Thank you very much, and I hope you like our new, beautiful patio with matching stone to the White House. If this were grass today, you'd be sinking into the mud, like they've done for many years, and you would be very unhappy.
Please. Thank you very much.
This was a big day. It's a pardon day for a very important beast. [Laughter] On behalf of the First Lady and the entire Trump family, I want to wish all Americans a very, very happy Thanksgiving. It's a great time of the year, and our country is doing really well economically, like we've never done before.
Today we continue a time-honored American tradition. [At this point, a turkey gobbled.]
[Laughter] Boy, that's a well-trained turkey. [Laughter] See how happy he is?
In a few moments, I will grant a full, absolute, and unconditional Presidential pardon to two handsome Thanksgiving turkeys. And this is their lucky day. This is a lucky day for them.
But before going any further, I want to make an important announcement, because you remember, last year, after a thorough and very rigorous investigation by Pam Bondi and all of the people at Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA, the White House Counsel's Office, and the department of everything—we have a department of everything. You know what that is? I think that's called "the White House"—[laughter]—into a terrible situation caused by a man named Sleepy Joe Biden.
He used an autopen last year for the turkeys' pardon, so I have the official duty to determine—and I have determined—that last year's turkey pardons are totally invalid—[laughter]—as are the pardons of about every other person that was pardoned other than—where's Hunter? [Laughter]
No, Hunter's was good. That was the one pardon, Pam, that was good. Right? The rest of them are all invalid. I don't know what the hell you're going to do about that. But that's—now we're going to take a little of the joking. That is a mess.
But they're hereby null and void. The turkeys known as Peach and Blossom, last year, have been located, and they were on their way to be processed—in other words, to be killed—but I have stopped that journey, and I am officially pardoning them, and they will not be served for Thanksgiving dinner. We saved them in the nick of time.
This one has plenty of time, but they were saved in the nick of time.
We're thrilled to be joined today by Vice President J.D. Vance; Second Lady Usha Vance; their daughter Mirabel; and along with Attorney General Pam Bondi; Secretaries Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent, Pete Hegseth, Brooke Rollins, Howard Lutnick, Linda McMahon, Scott Turner; Administrator Lee Zeldin, who's done a great job. A nuclear power plant gets approved in less than a week. Okay? I'm only kidding. But pretty close to that. [Laughter]
And we have more—where's Lee? Stand up, Lee. One of my great superstars. Thank you.
It used to take 20 years, before you got rejected, when you put in an application. Now we're doing them in a matter of weeks, right? And that's why we have the biggest plants anywhere in the world.
We're leading in AI. We're leading in everything. Our auto plants are pouring back into our country. Wait till you see the jobs coming with them.
But they're—many of them are under construction. But Lee has done a great job in getting those approvals. I appreciate it very much.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who has been very busy doing a great job also. Thank you, Kash.
Along with members of—see, you've got a following, Kash.
Along with Members of Congress, and, in particular, I want to mention Jason Smith and David Rouzer. Where is—where are those two guys? Come on. Stand up, fellas. What good people.
Jason knows more about the Tax Code than any living human being. He knows so much, we don't even want to hear about it. Right? Too complicated. [Laughter] We're going to make it a simpler code.
But we did, in the "Great Big Beautiful Bill" that was just passed—your imprint's all over that, and it's amazing—the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country for middle-income people. The biggest tax cuts in the history of our country for middle-income people and the biggest jobs bill ever passed.
And nobody thought we could get that one done. I'm glad—we actually put 4 years—actually, probably 8 or 10 years, but we put 4 years' worth of material into one "Great Big Beautiful Bill." So, that worked out very well.
And I want to thank everybody for working on it. J.D., that was a great—well, you know, we were going to do it in small bills. We were going to have 18 bills and do it along the process. I'm glad, Scott, that we got it done, because dealing with these Democrats—I don't think—I think that was our one shot, but we have it all in one "Great Big Beautiful Bill."
Thanks as well to the chairman of the National Turkey Federation and the CEO of Butterball—that's a big deal—Jay Jandrain. Where's Jay? Thank you. Stand up, Jay. Thank you very much. Along with his wife Leslie and their three children.
As well as the farmer who raised these two magnificent birds, Travis Pittman, in Wayne County, North Carolina. I won Wayne County by a lot. That means you had to vote for Trump, I think. [Laughter] I won by 92 percent. I like Wayne County. They're doing all right. Right? And this is, like, a record-setting turkey that's going to be saved.
The turkeys being pardoned today go by the names of Gobble and Waddle. When I first saw their pictures, I thought we should send them—well, I was going to—I shouldn't say this. I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy. [Laughter] But then I realized I wouldn't be pardoning them. I would never pardon those two people. [Laughter]
I wouldn't pardon them. I wouldn't care what Melania told me. [Laughter] "Darling, I think it would be a nice thing to do." "I won't do it, darling."
These are two of the largest turkeys ever presented to an American President, over 50 pounds each. That's the largest we've ever had. Those are big turkeys.
Are they as good as the normal-sized turkey? Better or as good? Do they tend to be a little fatty, maybe?
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. No? He said no. He knows the turkey business. [Laughter]
Anyway, despite their size, Secretary Kennedy has formally certified that these are the first-ever MAHA turkeys. I don't know if I agree with that. These are MAHA. In other words, they could be fat, but they're still MAHA. [Laughter]
They've been fattened on a steady diet of grass, beef to allow the [tallow; White House corrections] smoothies and all of the other things that they've been eating for this occasion. This was a really big occasion, but they've eaten every fattening food that you can eat.
We worked like—we wanted to really make them special, and they really are. They're, like, record-setting. I've never seen a turkey that big before.
Are they violent at all? Will they attack as I walk over? [Laughter] Because if they were, I'll stay right up here.
But as you know, we're a tough-on-crime administration. We are tough on crime.
You know, our border had zero people coming in for the last 7 months. Right? Zero. I mean, even I find that hard to believe to be—they had millions and millions of people pour into our border, from prisons, from mental institutions, gang members, drug dealers. They poured into our country like we were stupid people. We're not stupid people anymore.
But nobody's ever seen anything—the job that they've done on the—Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, the whole group—the job they've done on the border is almost like a miracle. We have—and the people that make these statistics that said zero, they've said zero for the last 7 months. I can't—it has to be like a few people got in, but they say zero. And they're radical-left Democrats that do the scoring, so I can't imagine they did that for us.
The truth is we have no people coming into our country illegally. It's an amazing—it's an amazing statistic, and I'm very proud of it.
And we have the most people working in the United States today by far than we ever had in the history of our country. So those are all good numbers.
But instead of pardons, some of my more enthusiastic staffers were already drafting the paperwork to ship Gobble and Waddle straight to the terrorist confinement center in El Salvador—[laughter]—and even those birds don't want to be there. I—you know what I mean. That was a tough—I'd like to thank the President of that country. They—do a rather efficient job. It's got to be the largest prison in history. I've never seen anything like it.
And a lot of people are behaving on our streets now. You know, Washington, DC, is a safe—it's considered a safe zone.
This was one of our most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city. I won't tell you about murders. We were having murders—like, a lot of murders—on a weekly basis. We haven't had a murder in 6 months—and it doesn't sound good even to say that, "We haven't had a murder in 6 months."
But when you were averaging one and even sometimes 2 a week, and you haven't had one in 6 months, you can walk with your family down the middle of any street, go to a restaurant—you won't get in. They're opening new restaurants all over, and it's really been a beautiful thing to see. So Washington, DC, is now a totally safe city, and a year ago, it was a crime, criminal mess.
We removed, Pam, 1,700 people—career criminals and people that came to this city from Venezuela and many other places. They were let out of prisons and they came here. They were Tren de Aragua—a lot of Tren de Aragua. That's from Venezuela. And we got them all the hell
out of our country or they're in prisons now, and you can walk down any street in Washington and you're going to be just fine.
And I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank Pete Hegseth. The job you've done here is incredible, and I hear you're having the same kind of success in Memphis, Tennessee, where you had an even worse situation, and Memphis crime is down 64 percent in 3 weeks. And by the time you have 4 or 5 weeks, you're going to have it down almost to where there won't be crime.
And we could do that in Chicago, by the way, if they would let us. If—the mayor, who's a low-IQ person, but he should understand this—this is a very serious thing. You saw all the crime that took place last night, the night before, the woman with the burning. They burned the woman. To be talking about that now—they burned this beautiful woman riding in a train. A man was arrested 72 times. Seventy-two times. Think of that. And they'll let him out again. The liberal judges will let him out again.
But we're ready to go. You know, we've been moving toward Chicago. We have a Governor that thinks it's wonderful that only, like, seven people were killed this week, but we are moving toward doing—and we're going to—if crime gets—it's horrible, what's happening in Chicago.
We could make Chicago a safe city in a period of 4 weeks. In a period of 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 10 weeks, it would be totally safe. And the people of Chicago want us to go there. And if you look at the crime that's taken place in Chicago in the last 2 weeks—just take a look; it's on the front page of every newspaper—it's out of control.
The mayor is incompetent, and the Governor is a big, fat slob. [Laughter] He ought to invite us in, say, "Please make Chicago safe." We're going to lose a great city if we don't do it quickly. Make Chicago—we'll do the same thing as we did in DC, the same thing as we did everywhere we've gone. It's become almost instantly safe, and I want to do it in Chicago.
So, Governor Pritzker, if you're listening, let's get your act together. Invite us in. We're going to make your place so safe. You're not going to have these crimes that are making the newspapers—on the front page of every newspaper and television story, news story. We'll make Chicago a safe place very quickly.
I looked at the various cases granting mercy, discovering that—the terrible trauma that everyone's going through, and I had a little bit of a Pritzker joke. I was going to talk about Pritzker in size, but when I talk about Pritzker, I get angry because he's not letting us do the job.
So I'm not going to tell my Pritzker joke. They have a very cute little joke, you know. Some speechwriter wrote some joke about his weight, but I would never want to talk about his weight. I don't talk about people being fat. [Laughter] I refuse to talk about the fact that he's a fat slob. I don't mention it. [Laughter]
On a more serious note, as we gather around the dinner table—I'd like to lose a few pounds too, by the way, and I'm not going to lose it on Thanksgiving, I can tell you that, because I'm going to have a turkey, but it's not going to be that one.
[The President pointed at Gobble.]
[Laughter] I hope all Americans will have the chance to enjoy the fellowship of family and friends and renew our faith in God's providence.
One year ago, we had a—we were a dead country 1 year ago. The King of Saudi Arabia said it to me. He said it to me, actually, 4 months ago, when I was in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, U.A.E. He said, "You know, 1 year ago, the United States was a dead country, and now you've got the hottest country anywhere in the world." The—do. We're the hottest country.
We have $18 trillion being invested as of now. We're not even close to being 1 year. The most ever was $2 trillion for a certain country I won't name. When—during the last administration, in 4 years, they had less than a trillion dollars being invested in the country. In 9 months, we have over $18 trillion. It's a number that nobody has ever even thought possible.
And that's in building plants and building so many things, investments in our country.
Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
But we have more people working. We have more people praying. The churches are coming back. I don't know if you've been reading that story, but religion is coming back to America.
Some people say, "Oh, why would you mention that?" To me, that's a big deal.
And this Thanksgiving, we're also making incredible strides to make America affordable again. Walmart announced that the cost of their standard Thanksgiving meal is 25-percent lower than just 1 year ago. That's a big deal.
According to the USDA, the price of Thanksgiving turkey is down 33 percent from its Biden-era highs. Potatoes are down 13 percent. Ham is down 15 percent compared to last Thanksgiving. So we are down to a level that we haven't seen in a long time. Egg prices are down 86 percent since March. And gasoline will soon be hovering around $2 a gallon.
Under our leadership, we passed the largest tax cuts in history, the largest spending cuts in history, the largest regulation cuts in history, and we have fully secured our southern border.
I've also ended 8 wars in 9 months, and we're working on that final war. It's not easy, but I don't know. I think we're—we're going to get there. Twenty-five thousand soldiers—Ukraine, Russia—in the last month, 25 thousand soldiers have died.
So I think we're getting very close to a deal. We'll find out. I thought that one would have been—gone quicker. We did eight. I thought that would have been an easier one, but I think we're making progress.
In less than 1 year, we've accomplished more than most other administrations have accomplished in 8 years.
And this is a very special Thanksgiving. We thank God for his many blessings and the great success that this country has seen in the short period of time.
We draw strength from the love of family and friends, and we express our undying gratitude for the men and the women of the United States Armed Forces. We love them.
We pray that peace and prosperity will continue to bless our land. And together, we'll really just keep this great drive going to make America great again—MAGA. I think it's the greatest expression in the history of politics: Make America great again.
So, once again, Melania, thank you for doing such a great job and being such a great First Lady. And now, let's go and give Gobble, Waddle—Waddles, by the way, is missing in action, but that's okay; we'll pretend Waddle is here—the gift that they've been waiting for.
And I'll move over, and I will just say, very nicely, "Gobble, you're pardoned." Come on, let's say it in front of Gobble.
Thank you very much, everybody.
[The President approached Gobble and greeted Travis Pittman, owner of Pitman Family Farms.]
The President. It looks like a rather violent bird. [Laughter] It's hard to believe. Anyway, are you ready?
Mr. Pitman. He's ready to go.
The President. Gobble, I just want to tell you this—very important. You are hereby unconditionally——
[Gobble again gobbled.]
——pardoned. Yes.
Mr. Pitman. He said, "Praise the Lord."
The President. Praise the Lord. Very good. You're right.
Beautiful. That's great. Beautiful. Well, it's nice. Who would want to harm this beautiful bird? [Laughter] That's great. That's great.
Thank you very much. Fantastic job.
Mr. Pitman. Thank you so much.
The President. Thank you very much.
National Turkey Federation Chairman Jay Jandrain. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
Thank you.
The President. Thank you very much, everybody.
NOTE: The President spoke at 12:07 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to R. Hunter Biden, son of former President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.; Jacques, Maddie, and Tillie, children of Mr. Jandrain; Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer; Rep. Nancy Pelosi; White House Border Czar Thomas D. Homan; President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez of El Salvador; Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago, IL; Bethany MaGee, who was burned in an attack aboard a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train in Chicago, IL, on November 17; Lawrence Reed, suspected attacker in the November 17 incident; and King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Thanksgiving Turkey presentation ceremony. Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Bessent, Scott K.H.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Biden, R. Hunter; Bondi, Pamela J.; Bukele Ortez, Nayib Armando; Hegseth, Peter B.; Homan, Thomas D.; Jandrain, Jacques; Jandrain, Jay; Jandrain, Leslie Burgess; Jandrain, Maddie; Jandrain, Tillie; Johnson, Brandon; Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.; Lutnick, Howard W.; MaGee, Bethany; McMahon, Linda E.; Noem, Kristi L.; Patel, Kashyap P. "Kash"; Pelosi, Nancy; Pittman, Travis; Pritzker, Jay R. "J.B."; Reed, Lawrence; Rollins, Brooke L.; Rouzer, David C.; Rubio, Marco A.; Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, King; Schumer, Charles E.; Smith, Jason T.; Trump, Melania; Turner, E. Scott; Vance, James D. "J.D."; Vance, Mirabel; Vance, Usha Chilukuri; Zeldin, Lee M.
Subjects: Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies; Attorney General; Automobile industry, strengthening efforts; Border security; District of Columbia, law enforcement improvement efforts; Economic improvement; El Salvador, President; Environmental Protection Agency; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Federal permitting process, improvement efforts; Gasoline costs; Illegal immigration; Illinois, crime in Chicago; Illinois, Governor; Inflation; National Guard; Pardons and commutations; Saudi Arabia, King; Secretary of Agriculture; Secretary of Commerce; Secretary of Education; Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of Homeland Security; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Secretary of State; Secretary of the Treasury; Secretary of War; Senate minority leader; Tax Code reform;
Tennessee, law enforcement improvement efforts in Memphis; Thanksgiving; U.S. diplomatic efforts, expansion; U.S. servicemembers, service and dedication; Venezuela, Tren de Aragua criminal organization; Vice President; White House Border Czar.
DCPD Number: DCPD202501146.