US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday with Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado after his administration denounced the committee awarding her the honor.
Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize. A growing number of world leaders have also said he should win the award. Those calls increased as his Gaza peace plan gained momentum in recent days. However, the nomination window closes at the end of January for the year, according to the award’s website.
On Friday, the Nobel Committee announced the 2025 accolade would go to Machado for promoting democratic rights in Venezuela and “for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Machado said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais that she had spoken with the US president but declined to offer details about their conversation. The opposition leader, as she had in her post accepting the award, expressed gratitude to Trump.
In remarks Friday evening, Trump confirmed he spoke with Machado, adding that she was “very nice” in their call.
“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, ‘I’m accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it,’” the president said.
“A very nice thing to do. I didn’t, I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me,’ though I think she might have. She was very nice,” Trump joked.
“I’ve been helping her along the way,” Trump added. “They need a lot of help in Venezuela, it’s a basic disaster. So, and you could also say it was given out for ’24 and I was running for office in ‘24.”
Shortly after the Nobel Prize announcement, the administration reacted negatively.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a post on social media.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gives a speech with opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, during a rally at Universidad Central de Venezuela on July 14, 2024 in Caracas, Venezuela. – Jesus Vargas/Getty Images
Machado won the award after years of efforts to promote democracy and has described her life’s work as promoting “ballots over bullets.” She was driven into hiding in Venezuela amid a sharp crackdown on dissent by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Many in the Trump administration had previously praised Machado’s work. The administration has also repeatedly denounced Maduro and has deployed a substantial military presence to the region to combat “narcotrafficking” – a campaign that many see as an attempt to weaken and potentially drive the Venezuelan leader from power.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among a group of lawmakers, including now US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, who nominated Machado for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024.
“In our work as policymakers who strive for democracy and human rights in the face of dictatorial regimes in the Western Hemisphere and beyond, we have rarely witnessed such courage, selflessness, and firm grasp of morality as we have in María Corina Machado,” they wrote in a letter in November 2024.
“It is our firm belief that María Corina Machado’s courageous and selfless leadership, and unyielding dedication to the pursuit of peace and democratic ideals, make her a most deserving candidate for this prestigious award,” the group of Florida lawmakers wrote.
In April, Rubio called her “the personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism,” someone who “has never backed down from her mission of fighting for a free, fair, and democratic Venezuela.”
Trump himself, before his inauguration in January, said she was a freedom fighter who “MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!”
Machado on Friday dedicated her Nobel Prize “to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
However, there were no warm words from the president’s allies after her win and the perceived snubbing of Trump.
Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for Venezuela, declared the “Nobel Prize died years ago.”
Benjamin Gedan, the Venezuelan director at the National Security Council under the Obama administration, said it appeared the Nobel Committee was sending a message to both the United States and the Venezuelan opposition in its choice to award Machado the prize.
“The White House has been sending signals that it might use military force to topple this regime, and that it has the support of Maria Corina to do so,” Gedan told CNN. “It seems to me that the Nobel Committee would prefer that both the United States and the Venezuelan opposition continue to fight peacefully for change.”
“I think the US reaction might reflect both things – frustration that Trump wasn’t chosen but also discomfort with this critique of US policy in the Caribbean,” he said.
Although Trump did not speak publicly about Machado’s win until early Friday evening, he had, however, thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin hours earlier.
“There have been cases where the committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to people who have done nothing for peace,” Putin said in remarks in Tajikistan Friday.
“Whether the current US president deserves the Nobel Prize or not, I don’t know. But he’s really doing a lot to resolve complex crises that last for years, even decades,” he said.
“Thank you to President Putin!” Trump wrote in on Truth social, following Friday’s announcement, which included a clip of the Russian President who has perpetuated an ongoing war against Ukraine and has defied Trump’s own efforts to bring that conflict to an end.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.
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