A reporter asked President Donald Trump a question that many are probably asking: “Why would you want somebody else’s Nobel Prize?”
The question was posed Friday on the North Lawn of the White House as the president was on his way to Mar-a-Lago, per Mediaite.
On Thursday, María Corina Machado, the recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, gave the award to Trump when the two met at the White House.
It has been reported that since she did not refuse the prize, Trump decided not to support her after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros was captured earlier this month.
While Machado physically gave her award to Trump, the honor that goes with the award is non-transferable.
That’s where the question comes in.
“Yesterday, yesterday you accepted Maria Machado’s Nobel Prize medal. What do you intend to do with it? And why would you want someone else’s Nobel Prize?” the reporter asked.
“Well, she offered it to me. I thought it was very nice. She said, you know, you’ve had eight wars and nobody deserves this prize more than in history than you do,” Trump said. “And I thought that was a very nice gesture. And by the way, I think she’s a very fine woman and we’ll be talking again.”
Watch:
The follow-up question involved Trump’s support of Delci Rodriguez, acting president of Venezuela.
“You just called Machado a very nice person. He said the meeting went well. Why align with Delci Rodriguez and the remnants of the Maduro regime and not with Machado who has the support of the Venezuelan people?” the reporter asked.
“Well, if you ever remember a place called Iraq, where everybody was fired, every single person, the police, the generals, everybody was fired, and they ended up being ISIS. Instead of just getting down to business, they ended being ISIS, so I remember that.
“But I’ll tell you, I had a great meeting yesterday by a person who I have a lot of respect for,” Trump replied. “And she has respect, obviously, for me and our country. And she gave me her Nobel Prize.
“But I’ll tell you what, I got to know her. I never met her before. And I was very, very impressed. She’s a really, this is a fine woman.”
