‘Give It To Me’; I Didn’t Say That’: Trump Responds To Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s Call | World News

washington: US President Donald Trump responded to his failure to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, saying he had helped the laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, on several occasions.

Trump claimed that Machado called him after receiving the award and told him that he accepted the award “in your honor because you really deserve it.” He added, “I didn’t say ‘Give it to me’. I think he might have… I was helping him along the way. They needed a lot of help in Venezuela during the disaster. I’m happy because I saved millions of lives…”

Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for his work supporting democratic rights in Venezuela and his efforts towards the peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Trump, who hopes to win the award for claiming to have helped “end seven wars”, also linked the conflict in Ukraine to his broader record of peacemaking in a speech to reporters at the White House.

“What about the other seven wars? I said I should get a Nobel Prize for each of them. And they said, ‘But if you stop Russia and Ukraine, sir, you should be able to get the Nobel.’ I said I stopped seven wars. This is one war, and it’s a big war.” Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Rwanda and Congo.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said on Thursday that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. In a post about X, he wrote: “Give @realDonaldTrump the Nobel Peace Prize – he deserves it!”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised María Corina Machado as “a brave and determined defender of peace” and said that the Nobel Peace Prize honored “a woman who kept the flame of democracy alive in the midst of growing darkness.”

“Democracy is a prerequisite for lasting peace. But we live in a world where democracy is in decline, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence. Machado has spent years fighting for the freedom of the Venezuelan people,” the committee said.

“The Venezuelan regime’s tight grip on power and repression of the population is not unique in the world. We see the same trends globally: the abuse of the rule of law by those in control, the silencing of free media, the imprisonment of critics, and the push of societies towards authoritarian rule and militarization. More elections than ever before in 2024, but fewer and fewer are free,” the Nobel Committee said. and fair.”

“Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado showed that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope for a different future, where citizens’ fundamental rights are protected and their voices are heard.”

The selection committee stated that María Corina Machado met all three criteria specified in Alfred Nobel’s will when selecting the Nobel Peace Prize winner.