Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Friday she was "absolutely grateful" to President Donald Trump after meeting with him Thursday and presenting him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. The president called it a "wonderful gesture of mutual respect." "María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done," Trump wrote on his social media platform. He also said that Machado was a "wonderful woman who has been through so much" and that it was a great honor to meet her. Machado, in turn, said Friday it "took a lot of courage" for Trump to take action against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Following the Thursday meeting, a White House official confirmed to ABC News that Trump did accept the medal. An honorable man would have graciously refused. FOLLOW UP STORY Norwegian lawmakers reacted with shock and dismay over Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado's decision to present U.S. President Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. "It's completely unheard of," Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor of international politics at the University of Oslo and former state secretary in the foreign affairs ministry, told public broadcaster NRK on Friday. She called Machado's gesture "disrespectful" and "pathetic," saying it undermined the value of the prize, which the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards annually. Raymond Johansen, a Norwegian lawmaker for the center-left Labour Party and former governing mayor of Oslo, said in a Facebook post it was "incredibly embarrassing and damaging to one of the world's most respected and important prizes," according to a Google translation. Machado, who met Trump at the White House for the first time on Thursday, said the gift to the U.S. president was a "profound expression of gratitude for the invaluable support of President Trump and the United States to the Venezuelan people." It comes after a U.S. military operation seized Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3. The U.S. president thanked Machado on social media, describing it as a "wonderful gesture of mutual respect." The White House later posted a photo of Trump and Machado, with the U.S. president holding up a large, gold-colored frame displaying the medal. The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute had previously said: "The facts are clear and well established. Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time." "Whoever has received the prize has received the prize," Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, leader of Norway's Centre Party, told NRK. "The fact that Trump accepts the medal says something about him as a type: a classic scapegoat who will adorn himself with other people's awards and work," he added. The White House was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC on Friday. Trump has frequently spoken about his desire to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The White House responded to the Nobel Committee's decision to award Machado the medal in October last year by saying they had "proved they place politics over peace." Some Norwegian lawmakers appeared happy to brush off Machado's gesture, however, saying it should not be seen as an indication of who the award rightfully belongs to. Dag-Inge Ulstein, leader of Norway's center-right Christian Democratic Party, told NRK that there is "no doubt" that the Nobel Peace Prize still belongs to Machado. Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norway's former defense minister and a member of the center-right Conservative Party, agreed with Ulstein. "Even though Trump has now received the medal, it does not mean that he has received the Peace Prize," Søreide said.
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on January 16, 2026, 1:15 pm
Trump, not to waste a moment of treachery, later said he supports Machado's opponent in Venezuela, who is also anti democracy. Machado no longer has anything to offer him, or anything he wants or can use.
The Nobel Committee said the prize cannot be transferred or given to another. They too underestimated trump's treachery with award to Machado.
Will he say the committee should have given it to him in the first place? Will he lie and say Machado gave it to him and did the right thing the committee failed to do? Oops! He already did!
I am bankrupt in ways to describe this loathsome wuckfad. As low as the bar can be set, he lowers it more and crawls under it.
His peace seeking efforts have the world on brink of unthinkable war, and he thinks he is a man of peace? No, he is a man to whom God gave the Nobel Peace Prize he really deserved, according to MAGA.
You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony![]()



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