Donald Trump has previously stated that he believes he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The White House has now called on the Nobel Foundation to recognize what it describes as Donald Trump’s “unprecedented accomplishments” since his return to office, after he failed to receive the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

The award was instead given in October 2025 to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, despite Trump repeatedly saying that he personally felt he “deserved” the honor.

Machado was recognized for her work advancing “democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and recently met with the U.S. president after publicly praising him for the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

During their meeting in the Oval Office, Trump posed for a photograph with the Nobel Peace Prize medal. Machado later told Fox News: “I presented the President of the United States the medal, the peace, the Nobel Peace Prize.”

She went on to explain that she handed the prestigious award to Trump because of what she described as his “unique commitment with our freedom.”

After the meeting, the Nobel Foundation issued a statement clarifying its rules: “Prizes shall be awarded to those who ‘have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind’ and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize.

“A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed.”

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung strongly criticized the statement, arguing that Trump “rightfully deserves” the Nobel Peace Prize and claiming the president has ended “at least eight wars” since returning to the White House last year.

Cheung wrote on X: “The @NobelPrize has now issued multiple statements/comments on President Trump (who rightfully deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace to at least eight wars).

“Instead of trying to play politics, they should highlight the President’s unprecedented accomplishments.”

Machado had earlier told Fox News that she was “dedicating” her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump following the capture of Maduro earlier this month.

She said: “Let me be very clear. As soon as I learned that we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I dedicated [it] to Trump because I knew at that point, he deserved it.

“And lot of people, most people said it was impossible to achieve what he has just done on Saturday, 3 January.

“And so, I believe he deserved it. January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny. It’s a milestone, and it’s not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it’s a huge step for humanity, for freedom, and human dignity.”