Thread by @JoePCunningham

President Trump should wash his hands in front of the crowd before handing both turkeys over to the masses.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1330905449382748168

The turkey known as "Corn" appeared in the Mueller report four times, CNN reports. Sources say the Southern District of New York is investigating financial ties between President Donald Trump, Corn, and a Russian oligarch.

The other criminal turkey, "Cob", spent the last two and a half years as an unregistered foreign lobbyist before the FBI arrested him. He previously worked for the Trump administration as a mid-level adviser.

Before anyone thinks that this is a partisan shot at Trump, I am more than willing to point out that in 2016, then-President Barack Obama pardoned both Tater and Tot.

"Tater" was deported more than once and arrested at the southern border on drug trafficking charges. Despite this, the Obama administration declined to prosecute and eventually pardoned him of lesser crimes.

Meanwhile, "Tot" was a known ISIS sympathizer and posted on various Internet boards calling for the deaths of multiple Fortune 500 CEOs. Despite being arrested for the threats, Obama pardoned him "in the spirit of forgiveness."

In 2015, he pardoned both "Honest" and "Abe", despite their then-recently discovered ties to Edward Snowden.

George W. Bush, meanwhile, quietly pardoned both "Liberty" and "Freedom" in 2001, despite alleged ties to $2.3 trillion in unaccounted-for federal government transactions announced the day before the 9/11 terror attacks. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

Bush also pardoned "Pumpkin" in 2008, his last year in office. The bird was officially the "Vice Turkey," as the number one turkey, "Pecan" fell ill from a suspected ricin attack the night before. Pumpkin's involvement was never proven, but Pecan survived and was also pardoned.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton pardoned "Jerry the Turkey." Jerry was originally the backup but the turkey ahead of him, Terry, was found dead of apparent suicide shortly before he was to be taken in by the FBI to testify about allegations against the Clinton Foundation.

Pardons officially started with Ronald Reagan, but the practice of sparing turkeys dates back earlier than that. Just three days before his assassination, President Kennedy sent a turkey back to its farm saying "We'll let this one grow." It proved to be a fatal mistake.

Richard Nixon also spared multiple turkeys. However, one such turkey was never actually returned. It is said that a faint "gobble" can be heard among the faint buzz of the missing 18 1/2 minutes from the Nixon tapes.

The tradition of presenting a turkey to the sitting U.S. president dates back to Harry Truman. Claims that Woodrow Wilson only pardoned white meat are unfounded.

Dwight Eisenhower never let any bird go free, and in fact developed the interstate system in order to ship the birds more efficiently to the White House.