Trump’s turkey pardoning turns political, but Waddle and Gobble are spared
National Thanksgiving turkeys Waddle and Gobble are presented to journalists at the Willard InterContinental on November 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Two very lucky birds won the White House lottery this year — a presidential pardon and a lifetime free from the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Waddle and Gobble, who had their names chosen by the public online, were pardoned by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump Tuesday in the annual tradition that spares two Thanksgiving turkeys from becoming the centerpiece of a holiday meal.
“See how happy he is,” Trump remarked of Gobble at the ceremony. Waddle was not present at the formal pardoning ceremony.
“Waddle, by the way is missing in action, but that’s OK, we can pretend Waddle is here,” Trump said.
The two birds stayed at the luxurious Willard InterContinental hotel in D.C. ahead of their Rose Garden ceremony, according to the hotel.
The two turkeys are provided to the White House by the National Turkey Federation, who will take Gobble and Waddle back to North Carolina, where they will live under the care of the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, per the school.
Trump also took the opportunity to tout his administration’s accomplishments, including the passage of his “one, big beautiful bill,” working to increase safety in cities across the country, and mitigating international conflicts.
“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 stopped that journey and I am officially pardoning them,” Trump said.
Trump also harangued Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer at the ceremony, joking he wanted to name the birds after the two politicians.
“When I first saw their pictures, I thought we should send them, well I shouldn’t say this — I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy, but then I realized I wouldn’t be pardoning them, I would never pardon those two people,” he added.
While American presidents as far back as Abraham Lincoln have pardoned turkeys, the modern tradition did not begin until 1989 during George H.W. Bush’s administration, even though Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan had both pardoned turkeys during their stays in the White House, according to the White House Historical Association.
“But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy — he’s presented a presidential pardon as of right now –and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,” Bush said in 1989, officially launching the yearly custom, according to the WHHA.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talks to reporters on the 27th day of the federal government shutdown in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol on October 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday that he does not “see the path” for President Donald Trump to seek a third term.
“It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about, the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that,” Johnson said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Johnson said he had spoken to Trump Tuesday morning. The president is currently in Japan for a three-country tour through Asia.
“I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution because it takes about 10 years to do that,” Johnson, a constitutional lawyer, said. “As you all know, to allow all the states to ratify what two-thirds of the House and three-fourths of the states would approve. So I don’t, I don’t see the path for that, but I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal.”
Trump has commented multiple times about a third term, despite it being barred by the Constitution. The 22nd Amendment explicitly states no person should be elected to the nation’s highest office more than twice.
On Monday, Trump said he would “love to do it” when asked about a potential 2028 bid.
“Am I not ruling it out? You’ll have to tell me,” Trump said when pressed on the matter. “All I can tell you is that we have a great, a great group of people, which they don’t,” he added, referring to the Democratic Party.
Last week, Steve Bannon — a former Trump adviser — said in an interview with The Economist that there “is a plan” to get Trump a third term, but didn’t provide details.
The official merchandise website of the Trump Organization has been selling hats that say “Trump 2028” since earlier this year.
Johnson on Tuesday argued though that the Trump 2028 hat “is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced,” but suggested it was a move to provoke Democrats.
The speaker said Trump has “a good time with that trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire by the very prospect. But I do believe that we’ve got three extraordinary years ahead of us.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Congress is out of town this week, but when lawmakers return on Monday, Sept. 29, they’ll be facing an immediate government funding deadline. If Congress doesn’t act before Wednesday, Oct. 1, there will be a government shutdown.
Right now, congressional leaders are busy blaming one another for the looming shutdown, but no clear path is emerging for how funding might be approved.
Here’s what you need to know with less than a week until a possible government shutdown:
What needs to happen to avert a government shutdown?
The government runs out of funding as the clock strikes midnight from Tuesday, Sept. 30 to Wednesday, Oct. 1. To avoid that shutdown, Congress must pass either a short-term funding bill, called a continuing resolution (or CR), or they must approve 12 separate full-year funding bills.
Congress does not have time to finish work on the full-year funding bills before the deadline, so they’ll need a stopgap bill.
Unlike the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, funding bills need at least 60 votes to pass in the Senate. That means any government funding solution will require at least seven Senate Democrats to pass if every Republican supports the proposal.
In a Washington under total Republican control, government funding is one of few must-pass pieces of legislation that requires Democratic votes.
Current state of play
Democrats and Republicans are currently locked in a staring contest. It’s not clear what, if anything, will be done to stop a shutdown next week.
On Friday, House Republicans (and one Democrat) passed a bill that would have kept the government funded until Nov. 20. But within hours of the House action, Senate Democrats blocked the measure from passing the Senate and instead offered their own funding bill that included a number of health care provisions Democrats say are essential. Republicans blocked that bill from advancing in the Senate.
Since then, no new proposal has been offered. Congress is out of town this week with no plans to return early.
Trump cancels meeting with Democrats
Democrats have alleged that the White House and congressional Republicans have been unwilling to negotiate with them on a path forward on government funding.
After President Donald Trump said he would meet with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries at their request, the president reversed course on Tuesday morning.
“After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump posted on his social media channel.
Democrats have responded by saying that Trump is running away from the negotiation table and will own the shutdown as a result.
What Republicans, Democrats want
Republicans on Capitol Hill want Congress to pass a short-term funding bill without any additional add ons to keep the government funded at FY2024 levels through Nov. 20. Republicans say this will allow more time for Congress to work on the annual appropriations bills that they hope can be enacted before the next funding deadline. The White House has backed this approach.
Passing a short-term funding bill that doesn’t include any sort of major policy riders is pretty par for the course on Capitol Hill. Democrats advanced many of them while former President Joe Biden was in office. Republicans say Democrats are being disingenuous by not supporting this seven-week solution.
“If [Democrats] want to shut down the government, they have the power to do so, but if they think they are going to gain political points from shutting down the government over a clean nonpartisan CR, something they voted for 13 times under the Biden administration, I would strongly urge them to think again,” Majority Leader John Thune said on Friday ahead of the Senate vote to block this short-term funding bill.
Republicans say that other policy priorities should be debated as part of the annual appropriations process, not as part of a short-term funding solution.
Democrats, on the other hand,want to use the funding deadline as leverage to secure health care-related wins and to restore cuts to Medicaid made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Republicans passed in July.
There’s a lot of health care provisions that Democrats outlined in their counter proposal that was rejected by the Senate last week – including the expansion of expiring Obamacare tax credits for federally backed health insurance premiums and the reversal of the Medicaid cuts that were signed into law under Trump’s megabil in July.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Democrat’s health care proposals would cost $1.4 trillion over 10 years. Democrats have said they’re willing to negotiate with Republicans, so this package should be viewed as an opening offer and not a set of red lines.
Democrats have repeatedly insisted they must secure health care-related wins to approve a funding package, but they have not yet been explicit about what specific wins they must secure in order to keep the government funded.
What’s different this time around?
In March, 10 Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to pass a continuing resolution to hold funding levels constant through the end of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.
But now, what we’re seeing is a role reversal for both parties.
Many times in the past several years it has been Republicans pushing for policy concessions on short-term funding bills while Democrats have repeatedly beat the drum for a clean short-term funding extension.
This time though, it’s Democrats who are saying they must get policy concessions while Republicans challenge them to accept a stopgap funding solution with nothing attached. It bucks the historical trend.
What happens if there is a government shutdown?
If there is a government shutdown, millions of federal employees will go without a paycheck and many — such as airport security officers, air traffic controllers and members of the military — will be told to come to work anyway. ICE agents also go without pay. National parks will close and the Smithsonian museums also typically close within a few days.
Federal contractors are not required to work and are also not guaranteed backpay.
Social Security continues to be distributed, though there can be slow downs.
(NEW YORK) — After weeks of declining to weigh in on the New York City mayor’s race, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday he was backing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn, said in a statement that while he and Mamdani had “areas of principled disagreement,” he acknowledged the state assemblyman’s win in the June primary and called for unity.
“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” the congressman said in his statement.
“The stakes are existential. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have unleashed an unprecedented assault on the economy, ripped healthcare away from my constituents, weaponized the Department of Justice against our state’s Attorney General and ordered masked agents to callously target law-abiding immigrant families,” Jeffries added.
Mamdani thanked Jeffries in a statement.
“I welcome Leader Jeffries’ support and look forward to delivering a city government and building a Democratic Party relentlessly committed to our affordability agenda — and to fighting Trump’s authoritarianism,” he said. “Our movement to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas grows stronger by the day.”
The New York Times first reported Jeffries’ endorsement.
As recently as Friday morning, Jeffries punted on endorsing Mamdani.
“I have not refused to endorse. I refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point in advance of early voting,” Jeffries said Friday morning.
Early voting for the election begins Saturday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
