Donald Trump praised yesterday, Thursday, the “beautiful gesture” of Venezuela’s opposition leader, just hours after their White House meeting, during which María Corina Machado offered him the Nobel Peace Prize medal awarded to her in 2025. “Maria gave me her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have accomplished. What a beautiful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you Maria!” wrote the Republican president in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Earlier, Venezuela’s opposition leader had handed over to Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to her in December, a move that sparked international discussion and reactions.
President Trump looks so young here. He deserves this Nobel Peace Prize more than ANYONE else ❤️ pic.twitter.com/VdIWqO0pDp
— JOHN F KENNEDY jr (@maGA2658) January 16, 2026
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the American president wrote: “It was a great honor to meet with María Corina Machado from Venezuela today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. Maria offered me her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a beautiful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you, Maria!”
“I handed the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom”
Machado confirmed the event, stating that during her meeting and lunch with Trump at the White House, without the presence of journalists, she handed him the Nobel Peace Prize medal. “I gave the President of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” she said characteristically, connecting her gesture to a historical example from Latin America.
As she explained, she referenced Simón Bolívar and the fact that two hundred years ago, the Marquis de Lafayette had gifted him a medal bearing George Washington’s face, which Bolívar kept throughout his life.
“Two hundred years later, the people of Bolívar return to Washington’s heir a medal – in this case the Nobel Peace Prize – in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom,” she noted.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has made it clear that the Nobel Peace Prize cannot be donated or transferred, creating an institutional issue around the symbolism of this gesture.
