Watch President Trump pardon the 2017 National Thanksgiving Turkey

In an annual ceremony on Tuesday, President Trump pardoned Drumstick the turkey.

The president and first lady Melania Trump were accompanied by the president's youngest son, Barron.

President Trump wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving and told some of the history of the pardon, pointing out that President Harry S. Truman did not pardon the first official National Thanksgiving Turkey.

"He was a tough cookie. Today I'm going to be a much nicer president," he said.

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Drumstick and his alternate, Wishbone, will live out the rest of their days at Gobbler's Rest, an enclosure on the Virginia Tech campus where the public can visit them. Last year's turkeys, Tater and Tot, also live there.

"As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor. 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. So Tater and Tot, you can rest easy," Trump joked.