Opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the peace prize in December 2025 for her fight for democracy.
WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for a lunch meeting at the White House on Jan. 15.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Machado said she presented Trump with the gold Nobel Peace Prize medal she received in Oslo, Norway. She was awarded the peace prize in December 2025 for her fight for democracy in Venezuela.
After her nearly two-hour meeting at the White House, Machado headed to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers.
Trump confirmed in a Truth Social post that he received the medal, calling it “a wonderful gesture.”
“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much,” Trump wrote. “María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
Outside the Capitol, Machado said that presenting the Nobel medal was intended to recall an event 200 years ago, when the Marquis de Lafayette gave Simón Bolívar a medal bearing George Washington’s likeness. She said Bolívar kept the medal “as a symbol of the connection between the struggle for independence in America and the fundamental values of the United States” and noted that that is what she wanted to emphasize.
Trump had earlier expressed doubts about Machado’s prospects of leading Venezuela. At a Jan. 15 press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president’s earlier comments were “based on realities on the ground.”
“It was a realistic assessment based on what the president was reading and hearing from his advisers and national security team, and at this moment in time, his opinion on that matter has not changed,” Leavitt said.
Trump’s meeting with Machado comes in the wake of a U.S. military operation early in January that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas.
By Emel Akan
