US President Donald Trump alleged on Friday night that Maria Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, contacted him personally after the announcement. She said that the Venezuelan opposition leader dedicated the award to him and said he “deserved” to receive it.
When asked about the Nobel decision, Trump talked about the meeting he had with the Nobel Committee. He has said many times that he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to make multiple international ceasefires and peace treaties.
“The person who really won the Nobel Prize called me today and said, ‘I’m accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it.'” Trump said it was a “very nice thing to do.”
He also said that Machado was so helpful that she might have given up the trophy if he had asked. “I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me,’ but I think she might have. He said, “She was very nice.”
Machado says he is dedicated and wants Trump’s help to keep going.
The President’s story about the call matches what Machado has said in public. After the news, the Venezuelan opposition leader posted on X (previously Twitter) that she was giving her Nobel Peace Prize award to the US President.
“I give this prize to the people of Venezuela who are suffering and to President Trump for his strong support of our cause!” Machado wrote.
She went on to stress how important the US President is to her country’s fight for democracy: “We are on the verge of victory, and today more than ever we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our main allies to achieve freedom and democracy.”
The White House is not happy with the Nobel Committee.
The exchange and dedication happened even though the White House criticized the Norwegian Nobel Committee for giving the peace prize to the Venezuelan leader. Earlier in the day, the White House said that the committee had chosen “politics over peace,” which implied that the honor should have gone to Trump.
After the announcement, White House spokesman Steven Cheung praised the President on X, saying that Trump will “keep making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives.”
Cheung wrote, “He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the award to Machado because she is a “courageous defender of freedom who rises and resists” authoritarian authority. This was a clear reference to her years of fighting against the regime in Venezuela.