Trump accepts Nobel Peace Prize medal from Venezuelan opposition leader Machado

President Donald Trump met Thursday with Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado, who introduced him together with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. The president referred to as it a “great gesture of mutual respect.”

“María introduced me together with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I’ve carried out,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. He additionally stated that Machado was a “great lady who has been by means of a lot” and that it was an excellent honor to satisfy her.

Following the assembly, a White Home official confirmed to ABC Information that Trump did settle for the medal.

Additional particulars concerning the closed-door assembly weren’t instantly revealed by the White Home. Requested concerning the assembly by ABC Information’ Mary Bruce, Trump stated it went “nice.”

Machado informed reporters as she was exiting the White Home that she introduced Trump together with her prize and mirrored on the historical past between the 2 international locations.

“I informed him this … Hearken to this — 200 years in the past, Basic Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, stored that medal for the remainder of his life,” she informed reporters.

“Truly, whenever you see his portraits, you may see the medal there. And it was given by Basic Lafayette as an indication of the brotherhood between america, individuals of United States, and the individuals of Venezuela of their combat for freedom in opposition to tyranny. And 200 years in historical past, the individuals of Bolivar are giving again to the inheritor of Washington, a medal, on this case a medal of a Nobel Peace Prize, and a recognition for his distinctive dedication with our freedom,” she added.

Simon Bolivar liberated Venezuela and a number of other different Latin American international locations from Spanish rule within the 1800s. The Marquis de Lafayette was a French nationwide who volunteered to combat with American colonists through the Revolutionary Warfare and finally rose to be one in every of George Washington’s most trusted generals.

Machado did not provide any extra particulars about her assembly with Trump.

She received the Nobel Peace Prize final 12 months for her work “selling democratic rights for the individuals of Venezuela” and her push to maneuver the nation from dictatorship to democracy.

Machado devoted the prize to Trump, together with the individuals of Venezuela, shortly after it was introduced in October 2025.

She stated final week that she wish to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the profitable U.S. operation to seize Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces drug trafficking costs in New York, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

“I definitely would love to have the ability to personally inform him that we imagine — the Venezuelan individuals, as a result of this can be a prize of the Venezuelan individuals — definitely need to, to present it to him and share it with him,” Machado informed Fox Information host Sean Hannity on Monday. “What he has carried out is historic. It is an enormous step in the direction of a democratic transition.”

The Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a statement final week saying that after the Nobel Peace Prize is introduced, it “can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. As soon as the announcement has been made, the choice stands forever.”

When requested earlier this month whether or not Machado might change into the following chief of Venezuela, Trump said it could be “very robust for her” as a result of she “would not have the help or the respect inside the nation.”

Trump stated Wednesday he had a “nice dialog” with Venezuela’s performing President Delcy Rodríguez, their first since authoritarian Venezuelan chief Nicolas Maduro was seized by the U.S. on Jan. 3.

“We had a name, a protracted name. We mentioned lots of issues,” Trump stated throughout a invoice signing within the Oval Workplace. “And I believe we’re getting alongside very effectively with Venezuela.”

The president said last week on his social media platform that he had “cancelled the beforehand anticipated second Wave of Assaults” on Venezuela after the federal government launched a number of political prisoners, however he added that “all ships will keep in place for security and safety functions.” 

Trump has coveted and brazenly campaigned for profitable the Nobel Prize himself since his return to workplace. White Home Director of Communications Steven Cheung slammed the Nobel Committee for its determination after Machado was introduced as the latest winner.

“[Trump] has the guts of a humanitarian, and there’ll by no means be anybody like him who can transfer mountains with the sheer drive of his will,” Cheung stated in an X post. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, was requested about Trump’s “marketing campaign” for the prize final 12 months however denied it had any influence on the decision-making course of.

“We obtain 1000’s and 1000’s of letters yearly of individuals eager to say what, for them, results in peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room stuffed with the portraits of all laureates and that room is stuffed with each braveness and integrity. We base solely our determination on the work and the need of Alfred Nobel.”