Nobel Foundation Speaks Out After Machado Gifts Trump Peace Prize
The Nobel Foundation, the group responsible for administrating the various Nobel prizes, on Sunday issued a clarification around the rules for handing out the prizes after Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado offered her peace prize to President Donald Trump, which he accepted.
"The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations," the foundation wrote in a statement posted to X on Sunday. "It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who 'have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,' and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize."
"A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed," the foundation stressed.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email outside of normal business hours on Sunday morning for comment.
Why It Matters
The saga surrounding Trump's desire for the Nobel Peace Prize has carried on throughout both his administrations, stemming from the fact that President Barack Obama received the award in 2009, just one year into his first administration.
Trump made a renewed push for the prize during his second term with an emphasis on ending international conflicts. By the end of the first year of his second term, he claimed to have enacted eight peace deals to end conflicts in various regions, including conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia, and Israel and Hamas.
However, some of the nations involved in those deals dispute the degree to which Trump was actually involved, and the deal between Thailand and Cambodia collapsed, forcing Trump to pursue a second deal just six weeks after they had signed the first deal he put together.
Ultimately, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize went to Machado for her role in seeking to advance democracy in Venezuela.
What To Know
Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the question as to who would replace him remained open, with the administration supporting the Interim President Delcy Rodriguez while engaging with Machado in her bid to oust Maduro's regime and install a democratically elected government free of the suspicion and doubt that surrounded Maduro's most recent electoral victory.
However, Trump has said that he does not believe Machado has the support of the Venezuelan people to effectively take over as leader of the country, despite overwhelmingly winning the primary to face Maduro in an election in 2024 as the candidate for the Vente Venezuela party. The Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice ultimately disqualified her from running for president, much to the outcry of several world and regional leaders.
During her visit to the White House last week, Machado offered Trump her Nobel prize, which he accepted. Some analysts believed she made the offer in an attempt to bring the president around to supporting her bid to lead Venezuela.
The Nobel Peace Center issued a statement following the exchange between Machado and Trump, stressing in a post on X that the Peace Prize is not designed to be transferred.
"One truth remains," the committee wrote, in part. "As the Norwegian Nobel Committee states: 'Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time.' A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot."
The Nobel Foundation followed on Sunday, saying that "one of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration" before also stressing that the prize cannot be transferred, even symbolically.
"A laureate cannot share the prize with others, nor transfer it once it has been announced. A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time," the Nobel Norwegian Committee, the body responsible for handing out the Peace Prize, said in a statement posted on its website.
It added: "The Committee does not comment on laureates’ subsequent statements, decisions, or actions. Any ongoing assessments or choices made by laureates must be understood as their own responsibility. There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items."
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social last week: "It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!"
The White House in a post on X last week: "President Donald J. Trump meets with María Corina Machado of Venezuela in the Oval Office, during which she presented the President with her Nobel Peace Prize in recognition and honor."
Commentator Brian Krassenstein wrote on X on Sunday: "The Nobel Foundation just clarified things further… In other words Trump trading the prize from Machado doesn’t count. He will still never have a Nobel Peace prize. Cry some more MAGA."
Financial Times chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman in a post on X earlier this month: "Trump’s obsession with getting the Nobel Peace Prize reflects a broader Maga phenomenon - craving for acceptance and praise from a 'liberal' establishment they claim to despise."
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