Trump says he can't reverse Obama's turkey pardons: 'Tater and Tot, you can rest easy'

It is an annual Thanksgiving tradition for the President to 'pardon' the White House turkey

President Donald Trump has joked that that he cannot revoke former President Barack Obama’s turkey pardons.

It is an annual Thanksgiving tradition for the President to “pardon” the White House turkey. Last year, Mr Obama pardoned a pair of birds named Tater and Tot.

Along with pardoning his own turkey - appropriately named Drumstick - Mr Trump kept another tradition alive: the President’s cracking of jokes during the ceremony.

“As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor,” Mr Trump said. “However, I have been informed by the White House Counsel’s office that Tater and Tot’s pardons cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked.”

“So we’re not going to revoke them,” he added. “So Tater and Tot, you can rest easy.”

It is Mr Trump’s first Thanksgiving as President, which he will spend in warm West Palm Beach, Florida.

During his remarks on Tuesday, Mr Trump noted that it has been 70 years since the National Turkey Federation first presented a turkey “to President Harry Truman, who, I might add did not grant the pardon. He refused. He was a tough cookie.”

The crowd laughed and Drumstick let out a gobble.

“Today, I'm going to be a much nicer President,” Mr Trump said.

The President also joked that he and First Lady Melania this year had welcomed a parade of foreign leaders and dignitaries, members of Congress, “and, along the way, a few very strange birds.”