President Trump on Friday said he will remain in touch with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado about the future of the South American country, one day after he accepted her Nobel Peace Prize at a White House lunch meeting.
Asked by White House reporters why he’d want someone else’s prize, Mr. Trump said: “She offered it to me.”
He added, “I thought it was very nice. She said, ’You’ve ended eight wars, and nobody deserves this prize more, in history, than you do.’”
The president said he was “very impressed” by Ms. Machado, adding, “I think she’s a very fine woman, and we’ll be talking again.”
Even so, Mr. Trump is relying on acting President Delcy Rodriguez to lead Venezuela after the U.S. military captured strongman President Nicolas Maduro and flew him to New York to face narco-terrorism charges.
Mr. Trump said he’s working with Ms. Rodriguez, who was Mr. Maduro’s vice president, instead of Ms. Machado because he wants to limit chaos in the country.
Mr. Trump pointed to the post-Iraq War, saying everyone in leadership “was fired” and ended up in the Islamic State terror group.
Ms. Machado mounted an aggressive campaign as a legitimate contender against Mr. Maduro in 2024, but the regime barred her from running, and she went into hiding.
She reemerged following the Jan. 3 Maduro raid and met this week with Mr. Trump and Capitol Hill lawmakers.
The Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a Jan. 9 statement confirming the peace prize cannot be transferred.
“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,” the institute said.
