President Joe Biden went from his routine physical to pardoning two turkeys named Peanut Butter and Jelly on Friday. Biden participat...
President Joe Biden went from his routine physical to pardoning two turkeys named Peanut Butter and Jelly on Friday.
Biden participated in the decades-old annual tradition after he returned from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he underwent a colonoscopy as part of his examination. While he was under anesthesia, he handed over his presidential powers to Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran the country for 85 minutes on Friday morning.
He told reporters he felt 'great' after his exam.
'You know as a University of Delaware man, I'm partial to Blue Hens - today we're going to talk turkey,' Biden said to kick off the Rose Garden event.
He introduced Peanut Butter and Jelly - Peanut Butter would get the official pardon - and said they were 'two names I couldn't agree with more.' Peanut Butter and Jelly are both males with each weighing in at 40 lbs. They are brothers.
'Who better to celebrate the holiday in which we break the bread than peanut butter and jelly?' Biden asked, adding that while his wife doesn't like him to admit it, 'that's what I like for lunch - peanut butter and jelly.'
Biden said the two turkeys were chosen based on their 'temperament, appearance and I suspect vaccination status.'
'Instead of getting basted these two turkeys are being boosted today,' he added.
The two birds gobbled throughout his vaccine-focused dad jokes.
'I love them talking to me like that,' he noted.
The president name-dropped his Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend mayor, and husband Chasten, saying that Peanut Butter and Jelly replaced them as Indiana's newest 'power couple.'
He added that 'turkey is infrastructure.'
'We're going to Build Back Butterball,' he joked.
President Joe Biden pardons Peanut Butter the turkey Friday in the White House Rose Garden
President Joe Biden went from his routine physical to pardoning two turkeys named Peanut Butter and Jelly on Friday
President Biden tried to also pardon Jelly after his pardon of Peanut Butter but the turkey did not seem interested
Peanut Butter and Jelly wait to be pardoned by President Joe Biden in the White House Rose Garden Friday afternoon
President Joe Biden (R) greets White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (C) and her husband Gregory Mecher (L) at the 74th National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation in the Rose Garden
President Joe Biden told a number of dad jokes during Friday's White House turkey pardoning ceremony
White House staff brought their children to the turkey pardoning ceremony including deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, seated with her wife Suzanne Malveaux
President Joe Biden arrives at the turkey pardoning Friday after spending the morning at Walter Reed getting a colonoscopy
One of the two national Thanksgiving turkeys poses for photographers in advance of the pardoning ceremony
President Joe Biden crouches down to talk to the daughter of deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Friday's turkey pardoning ceremony
President Joe Biden worked the audience at the turkey pardoning after sparing the lives of Peanut Butter and Jelly
President Joe Biden tried to pardon Jelly too, but the turkey started walking away
Peanut Butter strikes a pose at Friday's turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House Rose Garden
The birds gobbled through Biden's dad jokes
Biden then walked over to a table with Peanut Butter perched on top and pardoned the bird.
'By the powers vested in me as the president of the United States, I pardon you,' he told Peanut Butter.
He tried to pardon the alternate, Jelly, who was down on the ground, but the turkey started trotting away.
Several senior administration officials were at the event with their children, including Press secretary Jen Psaki, Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese and deputy White House Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Biden spent about 20 minutes working the crowd after the official pardon, bending down to talk to kids and posing for pics. He took a group of children into the Oval Office with him - presumably for a tour - as he headed back inside
Free Bird was playing before the program kicked off.
About an hour ahead of the pardoning ceremony, the president disembarked from Marine One and appeared to walk slowly and stiffly across the South Lawn upon his return from spending around five hours at Walter Reed Medical Center. The Rose Garden was already decorated with gourds.
'They're going to release all the details. I feel great. Nothing's changed,' Biden said of his first physical exam as president.
'I'm looking forward to celebrating my 58th birthday,' he joked. Biden turns 79 on Saturday.
The official turkey presentation began at the White House in 1947 but the pardon remained a sporadic tradition until Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency, according to the White House Historical Association.
The White House on Thursday tweeted out a video introducing the two Indiana- raised turkeys, who were seen being given the VIP treatment.
In the video the turkeys were seen trotting on their plush beds at the five-star Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., where they stayed until the pardoning ceremony at the White House.
The pardoning comes as inflation soared 6.2 percent, its highest point since November 1990, which has led to increases in the cost of essentials for Americans such as food, gas, and even furniture.
Biden has blamed the increase in the cost of living on 'market manipulation' and rising gas prices, despite the nation's top economists pointing to the country's supply-chain shortages and businesses struggling to meet the demand from COVID shutdowns as the reason for the rise in prices.
He has argued his infrastructure bill, which he signed into law on Monday, and his Build Back Better package of social safety net programs, which the House approved on Friday, will help ease inflation. The Senate still needs to pass the Build Back Better bill.
President Biden said he felt 'great' after his annual physical and 'nothing's changed'
President Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House after returning from Walter Reed Medical Center
President Biden waves as he arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his routine physical, his first as president, on Friday morning
Peanut Butter and Jelly enjoy their stay at the Willard Hotel the day before their pardoning
Peanut Butter and Jelly steal the spotlight during a press conference at the Willard Hotel a day before they make their appearance at the White House for their presidential pardoning
A close up of Indiana-raised turkey Peanut Butter who made an appearance during a news conference held by the National Turkey Federation the day before the White House pardon
Supply chain-driven disruptions helped drive up the prices of of vegetables, booze, bread, juice and wine ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday this year
The Consumer Price Index rose 6.2 percent in October 2021 from one year prior - the highest it has been since 1990
The Consumer Price Index shows a rise in prices in every category from used cars, laundry equipment, furniture to food
Compounding the loss of buying power is a supply chain crisis that has followed the COVID pandemic as manufacturing shut down and transportation became an issue.
Due to the supply chain crisis, shoppers can expect to pay more for their feast this year, including the holiday staple turkey.
This year, a frozen 15-pound turkey will cost around $21.50, up 27 percent from last year's $16.95 price tag.
Heather Garlich, of the Food Industry Association, said shoppers can expect to see short-term grocery price spikes for the next several months due to supply chain-related inflation and heightened demand.
'Grocers historically operate on slim 2% profit margins, and they are doing everything possible to avoid passing inflationary production costs onto shoppers,' Garlich had told DailyMail.com. 'Also, competition in the grocery sector is fierce, and the battle for market share helps keep prices down for shoppers.'
'The combination of all these challenges will continue to be disruptive and will create an uneven supply chain recovery, likely into 2022,' she added.
'But we ask that shoppers hold on as we continue to recalibrate. While we maintain resiliency in our global grocery supply chain, more time is needed to reach a new equilibrium.'
Inflation worries have overtaken concerns about jobs and pay for many Americans, casting a shadow over other more positive economic indicators.
But during a press conference in Baltimore earlier this month, Biden argued his plan would ease pressure on prices.
'According to economic experts, this bill is going to ease inflationary pressures, lowering the cost of working families. Seventeen - yes seventeen Nobel laureates in economics, wrote a letter to me about 10 days ago saying this is going to affect bring inflation down, not up,' he said.
'Best of all, the vast majority of these jobs that we're going to create don't require a college degree ... this is the ultimate blue collar blueprint to rebuild America.'
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