‘I saved millions of lives’: How Donald Trump reacted to 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he spoke to Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, hours after the White House accused the Nobel Committee of choosing “politics over peace”.

 

Trump said Machado told him that she received the award in his honour. The President did not directly criticise the Committee's decision, but he credited himself for resolving several wars and said Machado might have given him the prize if he had asked. 

 

“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said, 'I'm accepting this in honour of you, because you really deserved it,'" Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

 

"It's a very nice thing to do. I didn't say, 'Then give it to me,' though I think she might have. She was very nice".

 

Trump had vigorously campaigned for the prize. After he brokered peace between Israel and Hamas, facilitating the release of hostages, earlier this week, there were speculations that this year’s award would go to the US president.

 

In his media address, Trump said he had been helping with Machado’s activities in Venezuela.

 

“I've been helping her along the way. They needed a lot of help in Venezuela during the disaster. I am happy because I saved millions of lives,” he said, and reiterated his claim that he had stopped seven wars.

 

The White House had earlier criticised the Nobel Committee's decision to grant the peace prize to the Venezuelan leader. 

 

"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will," White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a post on X.

 

According to reports, Nominations for the Nobel must have been made before January 31 to be valid for this year's prize. Trump returned to the White House for his second term in office on January 20. 

 

Trump acknowledged on Friday the committee's decision in practice focused on 2024 when he had been campaigning for president, but he suggested his contributions to peace were so great that they should have given him the prize anyway.

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