'I didn't say give it to me': Donald Trump says Nobel Peace Prize winner called him

“The person who got the Nobel Prize called me today and said, ‘I am accepting this in honour of you because you really deserved it,’” Trump told reporters at the White House.

"I didn’t say, ‘Give it to me,’ though. I think she might have... I’ve been helping her along the way. They needed a lot of help in Venezuela during the disaster. I’m happy because I saved millions of lives," he said.

Machado, a long-time advocate for democratic reform and human rights in Venezuela, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her “brave and committed” fight for democracy and a peaceful transition away from authoritarian rule.

Trump, who has often suggested he was unfairly overlooked for the Peace Prize, said he expected recognition for what he described as his efforts to “end seven wars.”

“I said, ‘Well, what about the seven others? I should get a Nobel Prize for each one.’ They said, ‘But if you stop Russia and Ukraine, sir, you should be able to get the Nobel.’ I said I stopped seven wars — Armenia and Azerbaijan, Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Rwanda and the Congo,” he said.

In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Machado as a “brave and committed champion of peace,” saying she “keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace,” the Committee said. “Machado has spent years working for the freedom of the Venezuelan people.”

It also warned of a global decline in democratic governance, noting that “in 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer were free and fair.”

“The tools of democracy are also the tools of peace,” the Committee concluded. “María Corina Machado embodies the hope of a different future — one where citizens’ rights are protected, and their voices are heard.”