It was not his first presidential pardon and, the way things are going, it won’t be his last.

Watched by wife Melania, son Barron and daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, Donald Trump used his powers of leniency on Tuesday to spare a pair of turkeys from the Thanksgiving roaster.

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“Wow, big bird!” Trump said as he approached a turkey named Drumstick in the White House rose garden. “How heavy is that bird? Wow, 36 pounds. That is a big bird.”

Not always cautious about asking before grabbing, the president queried if he was allowed to touch the bird’s feathers and, told yes, proceeded to stroke its feathers. “I feel so good about myself doing this,” he said, mysteriously. “Are you ready, Drumstick? OK? Drumstick, you are hereby pardoned!”

But twice a young reporter rose from his seat at the back of the audience and shouted: “Are you going to pardon any people?!” Trump ignored what was presumably a reference to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into contacts between his campaign – including son Donald Jr, son-in-law Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn – with Russia during last year’s presidential election.

Indeed, the president has already shown he will not hesitate to use his powers of intervention. In August he pardoned Joe Arpaio, the hardline Arizona former sheriff convicted of contempt of court in July for defying a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tiffany and Ivanka Trump, with Ivanka’s daughter Arabella. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Such knowledge gave an uneasy undercurrent to Tuesday’s event, usually a predictably gentle moment of levity in the presidential year. Each Thanksgiving the occupant of the White House is expected to be a convivial host and throw out a few jokes in a display of soft power. Barack Obama’s puns (“Yes, we cran”) used to make his young daughters look like they wanted the ground to swallow them up. On this occasion, 11-year-old Barron looked on with a wry smile.

Hardly famous for his Wildean wit, Trump eschewed puns and acquitted himself better than his opponents might expect, though he could not resist some political comedy when considering Tater and Tot, two turkeys pardoned by Obama a year ago. In these polarised times, half of America is unlikely to see the funny side.

“As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor,” he said, wearing a candy-cane pink tie. “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.”

On a more serious note, a man described as the most divisive president of modern times added: “This Thursday, as we give thanks for our cherished loved ones, let us also renew our bonds of trust, loyalty, and affection between our fellow citizens as members of a proud national family of Americans.”

Once the short ceremony was done Ivanka, her daughter Arabella, and Tiffany smiled as they touched the turkey. Ivanka’s husband Kushner was also present.

John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, joked to reporters that he had advised Trump against the pardons, which mean that Drumstick and 36lb Wishbone, who was not present, will live at a Virginia Tech facility known as Gobbler’s Rest.

Seventy years ago the National Turkey Federation first presented a Thanksgiving turkey to Harry Truman, who did not grant the pardon, Trump noted, adding: “He was a tough cookie.” George HW Bush established the annual pardon tradition in 1989 when he spared an unnamed 50lb turkey.

Trump is due to head to Mar-a-Lago, his “winter White House” in Florida, later on Tuesday for Thanksgiving.