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Trump transition live updates: President-elect raises prospect of pardons for Jan. 6 crimes

Demetrius Freeman

“They tell me there’s 2,500 people here today, looking for a pardon!”

President Joe Biden stared through his aviators at the crowd on the White House’s South Lawn on Monday morning. Everyone laughed. It was a joke, right? The rows of chairs closest to the president were stuffed with Biden loyalists: Cabinet members, political appointees, staff, friends — maybe the sort of people whom President-elect <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/14/trump-critics-enemies-presidency-preparations/" target=_blank>might seek retribution against</a>?

In the end, only a pair of turkeys, Peach and Blossom, walked free. They are the last turkeys who will be pardoned by the 46th president, and they will “join the free birds of the United States of America,” Biden said. Peach, standing on a platform to the president’s right, released an ecstatic gobble. “Peach is making a last-minute plea here,” Biden added.

The birds were raised by National Turkey Federation Chairman John Zimmerman on a farm in Northfield, Minnesota. Zimmerman and his 9-year-old son, Grant, were on hand, as was Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, less than three weeks removed from his star turn as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. This would be the closest Walz gets to the White House, at least for now.

The turkeys were named for the state flower of Delaware. “By the way,” Biden told the crowd, “Delaware has a long history of growing peaches,” and peach pie is the official state dessert. One imagines this is the last we’ll hear about Delaware for a while. Biden also said that the peach blossom flower “symbolizes resilience, which is, quite frankly, fitting for today.” The president did not explain what he meant by this.

The turkeys, as best we can tell, have committed no crimes, save for being a turkey during the holiday season. Trump has been convicted of 34 crimes. The turkeys were pardoned by Biden; the former and soon-to-be president was essentially pardoned by some 77 million voters for, among other things, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/what-happened-trump-jan-6-insurrection/" target=_blank>his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021</a>.

Is there a lesson in mercy to be derived from this juxtaposition of representative democracy and birdbrained pageantry? Probably not. It’s just the annual turkey pardon, after all. This is fun. This is light. This is “a wonderful White House tradition,” Biden said, as if American traditions will hold forever.

Indeed, it has been White House tradition to present turkeys to the president since the Truman administration, and a tradition to pardon them since the presidency of George H.W. Bush. It has been Biden’s tradition to <del>gobble</del> garble his prepared remarks. We are told Peach “loves to eat hot dish and teeter tots — Tater Tots,” Biden said. Peach also loves cross-country skiing (prove it, Zimmerman) and dreams of seeing the northern lights (okay). Blossom, 40 pounds, enjoys cheese curds and watching boxing. He lives by the motto “no fowl play, just Minnesota nice,” Biden noted. Blossom was not presented alongside Peach, so the crowd had to take the president’s word.

The turkeys took a two-day road trip to Washington and spent the night at the Willard InterContinental Washington, a five-star hotel where rooms typically run about $350 a night. (No word on the poultry rate.) They prepared for their White House debut with a steady diet of polka music and flashing lights, so the bustling scene on the South Lawn wouldn’t spook them. The turkeys will return to Minnesota and live out their lives at Farmamerica, an “agricultural interpretive center” in Waseca, where we are told they will “inspire the next generation of agricultural students.”

Biden set the jokes aside, eventually. “It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during this season, and give thanks and gratitude.” Serving as president has been “the honor of my life,” he said. “I’m forever grateful.”

The president lowered his heavy lids toward Peach, who stared back from his own puckered face. Peach briefly flared his feathers, then gave a hearty shake. The turkey will leave the White House today, and Biden will follow in January, perhaps also to greener pastures.

Vassar College, BA in American studies

Northwestern University, MS in journalism

Kara Voght is a politics reporter for the Style section at The Washington Post, writing features and profiles that capture the political moment. She grew up in Eastern Connecticut and lives in Washington.

Kara Voght

Joe Biden pardons his last turkeys

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