- President Joe Biden pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys Monday morning
- The event took place on the day America’s oldest president celebrated his 81st birthday
- Liberty and Bell will spend their days on a college campus in Minnesota
President Joe said Monday he believes an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is close.
After holding a ceremony to pardon two Thanksgiving turkeys, he was asked whether Israel and Hamas were close to a deal.
“I believe so,” he said.
Hamas captured more than 200 hostages during the devastating October 7 attack on Israel.
On Sunday, Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, said he “hoped” an agreement would be reached within days.
President Joe Biden said a deal was close to freeing hostages held by Hamas and other groups
A man holds up a sign with portraits of hostages during a rally outside the UNICEF office in Tel Aviv. Relatives have put pressure on the Israeli government to bring them home
“We’re talking about a lull in the fighting for a few days,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
U.S. and Qatari officials are calling for a five-day pause in the fighting so that at least 50 women and children can be released. More releases would follow.
The nation’s oldest president offered the update after a South Lawn event marking the unofficial start of the holiday season and when he turned 81.
The commander-in-chief took a running step toward the podium and joked about the milestone, saying, “It’s hard to be 60.”
“It’s the 76th anniversary of this event. “I just want you to know I wasn’t there,” he added.
After the ceremony, the two birds will return to their home state, where they will spend their days at the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences.
The tradition dates back to 1947, when the National Turkey Federation first presented a national Thanksgiving turkey to President Harry Truman.
In the afternoon, first lady Jill Biden will receive the White House Christmas tree, a 21-foot-tall Fraser fir from Fleetwood, North Carolina.
The Bidens celebrate Thanksgiving with family on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket where they vacation every November.
President Joe Biden served turkey to soldiers at the Norfolk Naval Station on Sunday
He turned 81 on Monday, when he marked the start of the holidays by pardoning two turkeys
On Sunday, they served turkey to the crew of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia.
The two lucky bird survivors were preparing for their big moment at the Willard hotel in Washington DC before the White House ceremony.
Markus Platzer, the hotel’s general manager, told the Associated Press: ‘There are so many bad things happening around the world that this is something that, you know, puts a smile on people’s faces, at least for a few minutes. .’
Biden knows what he means. He heads into the 2024 elections trailing likely Republican nominee Donald Trump in the polls.
DailyMail.com found from 1,000 voters in a hypothetical 2024 head-to-head poll that Trump has a one-point lead over Biden.
A year after Election Day on November 5, 2024, Biden’s approval rating in Gallup was 37 percent.
That is lower than his six immediate predecessors – Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan – at the same pace.
Only Jimmy Carter, who was at 32 percent, was more unpopular than Biden with a year to go, and Carter subsequently lost by a landslide.
Biden has raised concerns about his age, with recent blunders including looking confused about how to leave a stage at events and forgetting to tell stories.
