Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Thursday that she gave her Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House.
Machado told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon that she had given Trump her medal, which she won last year due to her commitment to turning Venezuela into a democracy.
‘I presented the president of the United States, the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,’ she said.
She said she bestowed the medal on Trump, calling him the ‘heir of Washington,’ because the president had made a ‘unique commitment with our freedom.’
Trump had 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. The president did not invite the press into the meeting, so there were no immediate photographs of Trump with the prize.
Ahead of their White House meeting, the first since the United States military captured and imprisoned Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolas Maduro, Machado expressed that she was open to gifting Trump the Nobel.
But the Norwegian body that decides the winner came out with a statement saying that the prize couldn’t be transferred or shared.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (right) is photographed leaving the White House Thursday after her first meeting with President Donald Trump since the U.S. military captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro
President Donald Trump is seen walking into the East Room for an event with the Florida Panthers. He didn’t invite press into his meeting with Maria Corina Machado, where she said she presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize
Machado didn’t listen, recalling to reporters how a medal commissioned for President George Washington was presented to the family of French military officer Marquis de Lafayette, who had helped the Americans win the Revolution.
She noted how 200 years later, ‘the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal, in this case the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize.’
While the U.S. government’s stance was that Maduro did not rightfully win the 2024 election – with the winner being a member of Machado’s opposition movement after she was barred from running herself – Trump has not pushed for full regime change in Venezuela despite arresting its leader.
Instead, the U.S. government has been working with Maduro’s No. 2, Delcy Rodriguez, who’s become the country’s acting president.
Last week, the president hosted leaders of oil companies to the White House, pushing them to invest in Venezuela, with some company heads expressing doubts due to the country’s previous political instability and history of seizing oil company assets.
But that didn’t deter Trump from continuing to work with the current regime.
In an interview with Reuters Wednesday, Trump spoke of the ‘fascinating talk’ he had with Rodriguez, saying ‘she’s been very good to deal with.’
As for Machado, he added, ‘She’s a very nice woman.’
‘I think we’re just going to talk basics,’ Trump said.
Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado walked around Washington, D.C. as she headed to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump. It marked the leaders first meeting since the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro earlier this month
Maria Corina Machado waves from her vehicle Thursday as she departs Capitol Hill following an earlier meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump
Maria Corina Machado (center) embraces Republican Senator Ted Cruz (left) during a meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Capitol Hill Thursday. California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla (right) also attended the meeting
The U.S. government has been working with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez (center), who had been dictator Nicolas Maduro’s No. 2. President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that Rodriguez has ‘been very good to deal with’
The White House has yet to provide a readout of their meeting.
Machado was captured smiling and walking out onto Pennsylvania Avenue when she departed from the White House meeting.
Her trip to Washington, D.C., marked an end to Machado’s political isolation.
The opposition leader has been in hiding since she was briefly detained by Maduro’s government in Caracas last year, fleeing the country afterward.
Cheering supporters met Machado outside the White House’s gate, the Associated Press reported.
She then headed to Capitol Hill to meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz and Rick Scott, posed alongside Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Alex Padilla, Ruben Gallego, Peter Welch and others.
Machado ignored shouted questions about how her meeting with Trump went.
