Venezuela’s Machado gifts Trump Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Thursday that she awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House.
Machado told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon that he gave Trump the medal he won last year for his commitment to turning Venezuela into a democracy.
‘I presented the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize, to the president of the United States,’ he said.
He said he gave the medal to Trump, calling him “the heir to Washington” because the president “made an unparalleled commitment to our freedom.”
Trump publicly lobbied to win the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment. Since the president did not invite the press to the meeting, there were no photos of Trump with the award.
Before the White House meeting, held for the first time since the US military captured and imprisoned Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, Machado expressed that he was open to giving Trump the Nobel Prize.
However, the Norwegian body that determines the winner made a statement stating that the prize cannot be transferred or shared.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (R) is photographed leaving the White House on Thursday after her first meeting with President Donald Trump since the U.S. military captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
President Donald Trump is seen entering the East Room for an event with the Florida Panthers. He did not invite the press to his meeting with Maria Corina Machado, who he said presented him with the Nobel Peace Prize.
Machado didn’t listen, reminding reporters how the medal ordered for President George Washington was gifted to the family of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French officer who helped Americans win the Revolution.
He stated that 200 years later ‘the Bolivarian people returned a medal, in this case the Nobel Peace Prize medal, to Washington’s heir.’
While the US government’s position is that Maduro did not rightfully win the 2024 election (the winner was a member of Machado’s opposition movement after he was barred from running for office), Trump did not push for complete regime change in Venezuela despite arresting its leader.
Instead, the US government is working with Maduro’s No. 2 man, Delcy Rodriguez, who has become the country’s acting president.
Last week, the president hosted leaders of oil companies at the White House to push them to invest in Venezuela; Some company heads have expressed skepticism due to the country’s previous political instability and history of oil company asset seizures.
However, this did not deter Trump from continuing to work with the current regime.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Trump talked about his “fascinating conversation” with Rodriguez and said he was “very good to deal with.”
As for Machado, he added: ‘She’s a very nice woman.’
“I think we’re just going to talk about the basics,” Trump said.
Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado wandered around Washington, D.C., on her way to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump. This was the leaders’ first meeting since the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
Maria Corina Machado waves from her vehicle as she leaves Capitol Hill on Thursday following a previous meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House
Maria Corina Machado (center) embraces Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (left) during a meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday. California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla (right) also attended the meeting.
The US government is working with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez (center), dictator Nicolas Maduro’s No. 2 man. President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that Rodriguez was ‘very good to deal with.’
The White House has not yet made a statement about the meeting.
Machado was captured smiling as he left a White House meeting and walked onto Pennsylvania Avenue.
His trip to Washington, D.C. ended Machado’s political isolation.
The opposition leader has been in hiding after being briefly detained by Maduro’s government in Caracas last year and then fled the country.
According to the Associated Press, cheering fans met Machado in front of the gates of the White House.
He then traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz and Rick Scott, posed with Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Alex Padilla, Ruben Gallego, Peter Welch and others.
Machado ignored shouted questions about how his meeting with Trump went.
