Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado stated on Thursday she offered President Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize she received final 12 months, at the same time as he’s questioned her capacity to interchange ousted-President Nicolás Maduro.
The Venezuelan activist informed reporters she tried to present Trump the medal throughout a gathering on the White Home, calling the transfer a recognition of “his unique commitment [to] our freedom.”
It’s unclear if the president accepted the medal, although the Nobel Institute has stated Machado couldn’t give her prize to Trump, an honor that he desperately coveted earlier than it was awarded to her in October.
If Trump did settle for the present, it will solely be acknowledged by the Nobel Peace Heart as a symbolic gesture.
“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time,” the group stated in an announcement on Thursday.
However that won’t matter to Trump.
After his supporters complained that he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize, worldwide soccer organizers offered him with a FIFA Peace Prize that didn’t beforehand exist. The president known as that trophy “truly one of the great honors of my life.”
He additionally has a New England Patriots Tremendous Bowl ring and the Chelsea soccer staff’s 2025 Membership World Cup trophy, in response to The Guardian.
Politico reported {that a} wounded Iraq struggle veteran additionally provided Trump his Purple Coronary heart award in 2016.
“I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” Trump stated on the time. “This was much easier.”
Machado’s provide to Trump got here as the 2 held a closed-door assembly to debate what’s happening in Venezuela and the way forward for the nation after the U.S. navy led an operation that eliminated Maduro from workplace on Jan. 3.
He and his spouse, Cilia Flores, had been then flown to New York to face an indictment on fees of narcoterrorism introduced by the Justice Division. They’re at present awaiting trial at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart.
Who will lead Venezuela subsequent stays a query, as is Machado’s position within the nation’s politics.
Simply hours after Maduro’s seize, Trump stated it will be “very tough for her to be the leader,” as a result of she “doesn’t have the support or respect within the country” — although her celebration is broadly believed to have received 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.
Trump lately stated that he’s accountable for the South American nation, however has additionally praised its interim chief’s talents.
Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former second in command, has been serving as performing president, operating day-to-day authorities operations together with others in Maduro’s inside circle.
