Trump grabs Nobel Peace Prize from Venezuela Opposition Leader after meeting

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says she handed her Nobel Peace Prize medal to U.S. President Donald Trump during a White House meeting that underscored her political sidelining.

Machado told reporters after the closed-door meeting that she presented the medal to Trump as a symbolic gesture, despite the Nobel Institute stating that the prize cannot be transferred.

“I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” she said, describing it as “a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

Trump later confirmed on social media that Machado had left the medal with him. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,” Trump wrote. “Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”

The White House also released a photograph showing Machado beside Trump in the Oval Office as he held the framed medal. The inscription described it as a “personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people” for Trump’s actions toward what it called a free Venezuela.

The gesture was striking because Trump has openly questioned Machado’s ability to lead the country following the U.S.-backed removal of Nicolás Maduro.

He has instead signaled readiness to engage with acting president Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s deputy and now oversees day-to-day governance.

Trump has said Machado “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” even though her political coalition is widely believed to have won Venezuela’s disputed 2024 election, results rejected by Maduro’s allies.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Machado as “a remarkable and brave voice” but stressed that the meeting did not alter Trump’s assessment.

She said the president supports elections in Venezuela “when the time is right,” without offering a timeline.

After leaving the White House, Machado greeted cheering supporters outside the gates, hugging several and declaring, “We can count on President Trump,” prompting chants of “Thank you, Trump.”

Her Washington visit followed months largely out of public view after she spent nearly a year in hiding in Venezuela. She later traveled to Norway, where her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

Behind the celebratory scenes, political uncertainty persists. Rodríguez continues to manage government affairs and has called for renewed diplomatic engagement with Washington while pushing to open Venezuela’s oil industry to foreign investors. Trump has meanwhile pledged to assert control over Venezuelan crude sales.

Machado later met privately with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators. Senator Chris Murphy said she warned that “if there’s not some progress, real progress towards a transition in power, and/or elections in the next several months, we should all be worried.”

He added that she argued Rodríguez is “in many ways, worse than Maduro.”

Murphy said Machado received no firm commitments from the White House on elections. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, however, praised Trump’s role, saying Machado made clear that removing Maduro was “the most important, significant event in Latin America.”

The meetings coincided with U.S. forces seizing another oil tanker linked to Venezuela, part of a broader effort to exert control over the country’s energy sector following Maduro’s capture and extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges.

Despite her symbolic gesture and renewed visibility, Machado remains without Trump’s endorsement as Venezuela’s next leader, highlighting the fragile and uncertain path ahead for the opposition.