Remarks in a Telephone Conversation With NBC's Savannah Guthrie During the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City

NBC's "Today" program cohost Savannah Guthrie. Guys, I think I'm getting a phone call. You know, I'm not one to take a phone call during TV. Oh, but I think I should answer this one.

Hello, Mr. President? I don't think I can hear you. Can you hear me, Mr. President?

[At this point, Ms. Guthrie experienced brief technical difficulties with the phone connection.]

Hello? Happy Thanksgiving. Mr. President, are you there?

The President. We're here! [Laughter]

The First Lady. Hi! Happy Thanksgiving.

Ms. Guthrie. Oh! [Laughter] I was so worried this call wasn't going to go through. How are you?

The President. We're fine. We're fine. Your—watching your parade. You're doing a good job.

Ms. Guthrie. Oh, thank you. I love that you're watching, like, the——

The President. You're responsible for the good weather of the parade too. That's the best part.

Ms. Guthrie. I will take credit for that, yes. Thank you very much.

And just like millions of Americans, you guys watching the parade, what do you want to say to everyone watching right now?

The First Lady. We just want to say we're so grateful for the people, for this opportunity, for the health that we have now in America. And just happy Thanksgiving.

Joe, what do you want to say?

The President. Well, I wanted to say thanks to the firefighters, the police officers, first responders. They never take a break.

The First Lady. And God bless our troops, for sure.

The President. And by the way, we're going to be talking to some of our troops later today, both here and abroad. And I hope everybody remembers we end every single day with "God bless our troops," for real.

Ms. Guthrie. That's so true. We are so grateful. And what are your plans for Thanksgiving, after the parade?

The First Lady. Well, we're just going to have dinner with the family, probably take a walk on the beach, and just feel gratitude for our family.

The President. Well, we've been coming up to Nantucket for—since we first got married, the whole family. And it's become a tradition. And we're going to go stop at the fire department. And we're going to make sure that we spend some time on the island thanking the first responders here. And we're going to go see the Coast Guard, the military.

Ms. Guthrie. Well, that's wonderful and sounds absolutely lovely.

Thank you, Mr. President and Dr. Biden, for taking the time to join us today. And I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family.

The President. You too. Hope you get a little time to enjoy it. We're going to give Al a call too and see how he's doing.

Ms. Guthrie. Al is doing great. Thank you so much for asking.

The President. All right.

The First Lady. Happy Thanksgiving!

Ms. Guthrie. Happy Thanksgiving!