‘Second-Hand Nobel’ for Trump: Can the Nobel Committee Revoke María Corina Machado’s Peace Prize?
US President Donald Trump has finally received a Nobel Peace Prize — though in an unusual way. The award was originally won by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who handed over her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump, and he accepted it gladly.
Donald Trump has, at last, got hold of a Nobel Peace Prize. María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, an award Trump had repeatedly claimed he deserved. Ahead of last year’s peace prize announcement, Trump had often said he had stopped seven wars and argued that, as a “peacemaker,” he should be given the Nobel Peace Prize. However, when the award went to the Venezuelan opposition leader instead of him, Trump reacted angrily.
At the time, the White House said the Nobel Committee had prioritized politics over peace. Now, after Machado handed over her Nobel medal to Trump, he appears delighted. Following their meeting at the White House, Trump praised the Venezuelan leader and said, “She gave me her peace prize because she was happy with my work.”
Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “She is an incredible woman who has suffered a great deal.” He also described Machado giving him the medal as “a beautiful gesture of mutual respect.” A White House official told Reuters that Trump intends to keep the Nobel Peace Prize medal.
Why did Machado give her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump?
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has long faced repression under the government of Nicolás Maduro. She had been living in hiding to evade Maduro’s actions. Before traveling to Washington to hand over her Nobel Prize to Trump, Machado had not been seen in public. Last month, she traveled to Norway, where her daughter accepted the peace prize on her behalf. Prior to that, Machado had been in hiding in Venezuela for 11 months.
Earlier this year, President Trump ordered the arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. After Maduro’s arrest, Machado believed Trump would help bring her to power in Venezuela. Instead, Trump chose to support Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who has now been appointed acting president.
It is widely believed that Machado gave Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal in an attempt to win his favor. For a long time, she was seen as a future democratic leader of Venezuela, but her position weakened after Trump removed Maduro and then backed Maduro’s deputy instead.
Can Machado give her Nobel Prize to someone else?
The Nobel Institute says Machado cannot give her prize to Trump, even though Trump has long expressed a desire to receive the honor. While the move is entirely symbolic, it is extraordinary, especially given that Trump has sidelined Machado, who had been the most prominent face of opposition in Venezuela for years.
Can the prize committee revoke Machado’s Nobel Prize after she handed the medal to Trump?
According to information available on the Nobel Peace Prize website, it is not possible to revoke a Nobel Peace Prize. Neither Alfred Nobel’s will nor the rules of the Nobel Foundation include any provision for such an action.
Section 10 of the Nobel Foundation’s statutes states:
“No appeal may be made against the decision of the awarding body.”
No prize committee in Stockholm or Oslo has ever considered revoking an award once it has been given.
In principle, the Norwegian Nobel Committee does not comment on what Nobel Peace Prize winners say or do after receiving the award. The committee’s mandate is limited to evaluating the work and efforts of nominees until a decision is made about who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in a given year. While the committee does keep an eye on the activities of laureates, no Nobel Prize can be revoked, shared, or transferred to another person. Once the award is announced, the decision is final and irreversible.
That said, this does not mean the committee ignores a laureate’s actions after the award is granted. They do monitor developments, but they do not publicly express concern or praise regarding the actions of prize winners.
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