Overview
- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a White House meeting, which he praised on Truth Social.
- The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Nobel Foundation reiterated that the Peace Prize is personal and intransferible, and that the laureate of record remains Machado.
- The Nobel Foundation also noted its statutes allow winners to give away, sell, donate, or otherwise dispose of the physical medal and diploma without affecting laureate status.
- In the United States, an active debate is assessing whether the framed medal is a personal gift or should enter government custody, with White House sources saying Trump intends to retain it for now.
- Norwegian public figures and politicians criticized the handover as disrespectful to the prize, and the White House stopped short of endorsing Machado as Venezuela’s leader despite the symbolic gesture.