On Thursday (Jan. 15), Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado visited President Donald Trump at the White House. At that meeting, she presented him with the medal for the Nobel Peace Prize that she won last year. Machado confirmed it, saying that it was a “profound expression of gratitude for the invaluable support of President Trump and the United States to the Venezuelan people.”
The White House posted a photo of Trump and Machado, with Trump holding up an oversized frame holding the medal. In a statement on social media, he thanked Machado for the “wonderful gesture of mutual respect.” According to CNN, she left with a gift bag signed by Trump, but no promise of being endorsed to take over leadership of Venezuela. The meeting comes weeks after U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3.
The Nobel Peace Center, a museum dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, made it clear in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.”
Norwegian lawmakers expressed their displeasure with Machado’s move on Wednesday. Raymond Johansen, the former mayor of Oslo, called it “incredibly embarrassing and damaging to one of the world’s most respected and important prizes,” in a Facebook post. Dag-Inge Ulstein, the head of the center-right Christian Democratic Party, said that there is “no doubt” the prize still belongs to Machado when contacted by CNBC.
Trump has openly expressed his desire for a Nobel Peace Prize, and the White House did blast the decision to give Machado the medal instead of Trump last October, saying that they “proved they place politics over peace.” The meeting with Machado was soundly mocked online afterward, with some pointing out that Trump’s quest to get a Nobel Peace Prize was inspired by one being bestowed upon former President Barack Obama in 2009. “On Obama’s worst day, and your best, he will ALWAYS be better. The world laughs at you. Pathetic,” wrote X user Brooklyn Dad Defiant in a post.
