President Donald Trump faced pointed questions from a reporter Friday about accepting Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize medal, defending the gesture as a “very nice” offer from a “fine woman” while insisting the honor was well-deserved.
The exchange came as Trump headed to Marine One on the White House North Lawn after a Thursday meeting where Machado presented him with the 18-karat gold medal she received in 2025 for her work promoting democracy in Venezuela. The Norwegian Nobel Institute has repeatedly clarified that the physical medal can change hands, but the title of laureate is non-transferable and remains hers.
A reporter pressed Trump: “Yesterday you accepted Maria Machado’s Nobel Prize medal. What do you intend to do with it? And why would you want someone else’s Nobel Prize?”
Trump responded: “Well, she offered it to me. I thought it was very nice. She said, you know, you’ve had eight wars and nobody deserves this prize more than anyone in history than you do. And I thought that was a very nice gesture. And by the way, I think she’s a very fine woman and we’ll be talking again.”
He added that he was “very, very impressed” after meeting her for the first time, describing the session as great and noting her respect for him and the U.S. The president has long expressed frustration over not winning the prize himself, often highlighting his claimed role in preventing or ending conflicts.
The moment drew sharp criticism online. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul posted: “I just can’t understand how Trump feels no embarrassment over accepting someone else’s prize.”
Others highlighted the humiliation angle, with one user writing: “I don’t think it’s possible for any other human being to ever reach the same heights of humiliation as those reached yesterday by María Corina Machado.”
The gesture came amid complex U.S.-Venezuela dynamics following the U.S.-led capture of Nicolás Maduro earlier this month. Trump has praised Machado but aligned more with figures like Delcy Rodríguez from the prior regime for stability, drawing an analogy to post-Saddam Iraq where rapid changes led to chaos and the rise of ISIS. Machado, after the meeting, called it “excellent” and framed the gift as recognition of Trump’s “principled and decisive action” for a free Venezuela, comparing it to historical gestures like the Marquis de Lafayette’s medal to Simón Bolívar.
Trump posted on Truth Social thanking her for the “wonderful gesture of mutual respect,” and the White House shared a photo of him holding the framed medal with an inscription crediting his actions.
The Nobel Committee reiterated that the award cannot be shared or transferred in title, standing as a personal symbol rather than a formal endorsement.
