US President Donald Trump spoke with Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado on Friday, October 10, just hours after his administration criticised the decision to honour her.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee had earlier announced that the 2025 Peace Prize would go to the Venezuelan opposition leader for her efforts in promoting democratic rights and her “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Speaking to reporters late Friday evening, President Trump confirmed their conversation, describing Machado as “very nice.”
“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today and said, ‘I’m accepting this in honour of you, because you really deserved it,’” Trump said, adding jokingly, “A very nice thing to do. I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me,’ though I think she might have. She was very nice.”
Trump, who has long campaigned for a Nobel Prize, also claimed he had “been helping her along the way” and suggested the award could have been influenced by his 2024 presidential campaign, saying, “You could also say it was given out for ’24 and I was running for office in ’24.”
Machado confirmed the conversation and had earlier expressed her gratitude to Trump.
Hours before the call, the White House had reacted negatively to the Nobel announcement, viewing it as a political snub.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung. Trump’s envoy for Venezuela, Richard Grenell, went further, declaring, “The Nobel Prize died years ago.”
Despite the backlash, Machado publicly dedicated her award to Trump, writing that she was honouring “the suffering people of Venezuela and President Trump for his decisive support of our cause.”
The award underscored the complicated relationship between Washington and the Venezuelan opposition. Machado, who remains in hiding amid President Nicolas Maduro’s crackdown, has continued to champion democracy through “ballots over bullets.”
Her nomination had previously been backed by key U.S. officials. In November 2024, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other lawmakers wrote that Machado’s “courageous and selfless leadership, and unyielding dedication to peace and democratic ideals, make her a most deserving candidate for this prestigious award.”
However, some observers believe the Nobel Committee’s decision — and its emphasis on non-violent democratic struggle — might also be seen as a subtle critique of U.S. foreign policy, particularly its military presence in the Caribbean under the banner of anti-narcotrafficking operations.
Trump’s remarks came shortly after he publicly thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had earlier commented on the Nobel decision, saying, “Whether the current U.S. 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.”
