Nobel committee hits back after Venezuelan opposition leader 'gifts' Trump her Peace Prize medal
Maria Corina Machado has gifted the medal to the President after his removal of Nicolas Maduro, with the committee insisting the award cannot be 'transferred'
The Nobel Peace Prize committee has hit back after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was seen to gift her medal to Donald Trump following the removal of sitting president Nicolas Maduro.
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The Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that while many prizes "have been passed on" after the winner's death, they cannot be gifted.
"A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot," they explained, amid public outcry.
The statement follows Ms Machado's meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday, where she confirmed the extraordinary gift to reporters in an apparent attempt to win back the US President's favour.
The committee reiterated in an official ruling published last week: "But one truth remains.
"As the Norwegian Nobel Committee states: once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time."
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The #NobelPeacePrize medal.
— Nobel Peace Center (@NobelPeaceOslo) January 15, 2026
It measures 6.6 cm in diameter, weighs 196 grams and is struck in gold. On its face, a portrait of Alfred Nobel and on its reverse, three naked men holding around each other’s shoulders as a sign of brotherhood. A design unchanged for 120 years.
Did… pic.twitter.com/Jdjgf3Ud2A
Trump is said to have coveted the prize in 2025 after his efforts brokering a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Machado told CNN: "I presented the President of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I told him this. Two hundred years ago General (Marquis de) Lafayette gave Simón Bolívar a medal with George Washington on it. Bolivar since then kept the medal for the rest of his life.
“Two hundred years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving the heir of Washington a medal, in this case the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his unique commitment with our freedom.”
Machado previously dedicated her win to Trump when she received it, but the Nobel Committee told her that the gong was untransferable.
It comes as US troops were seen to seize another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea which the Trump administration claims has ties to Venezuela.
Donald Trump’s forces captured its sixth vessel on Thursday morning amid the US president’s campaign to control the production and export of oil in Venezuela, following its extraordinary capture of its former president, Nicolas Maduro.
The vessel, named the Motor Tanker Veronica, was seized in Venezuelan waters and was “operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday.