Washington: US President Donald Trump responded Friday to not winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize, saying he had assisted the awardee, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, on several occasions.
Trump claimed Machado called him after receiving the prize, telling him she accepted it "in honour of you because you really deserved it." He added, "I didn't say, 'Give it to me,' though. I think she might have... I've been helping her along the way. They needed a lot of help in Venezuela during the disaster. I am happy because I saved millions of lives..."
Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democratic rights in Venezuela and her efforts toward a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Trump, who had hoped to win the prize for his claims of helping "end seven wars," also tied the conflict in Ukraine to his broader peacemaking record while speaking to reporters at the White House.
"I said, 'Well, what about the seven others? I should get a Nobel Prize for each one'. So they said, 'but if you stop Russia and Ukraine, sir, you should be able to get the Nobel'. I said I stopped seven wars. That's one war, and that's a big one," he told the gathering, listing conflicts he said were halted under his leadership, including "Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Rwanda and the Congo."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday also said that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. In a post on X, he wrote, "Give @realDonaldTrump the Nobel Peace Prize - he deserves it!"
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised María Corina Machado as a "brave and committed champion of peace," saying the Nobel Peace Prize honors a "woman who keeps the flame of democracy alive amid growing darkness."
"Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence. Machado has spent years working for the freedom of the Venezuelan people," the Committee said.
"The Venezuelan regime's rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world. We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair," the Nobel Committee said.
"Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard," it said.
The selection committee stated that María Corina Machado fulfills all three criteria outlined in Alfred Nobel's will for choosing a Nobel Peace Prize winner.