In an apparent attempt to win back Donald Trump’s favour, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told reporters she had “presented” her gold Nobel peace prize medal to the US president during a private meeting at the White House on Thursday.
Machado, who received the award last year for her struggle against Nicolás Maduro’s “brutal, authoritarian state”, told reporters she had done so “in recognition [of] his unique commitment [to] our freedom”. It was not immediately clear whether Trump had accepted the gift.
Trump later wrote his Truth Social platform: “María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
It is unclear if Trump retained the medal, and he did not post an image of it.
While Trump expressed gratitude to have been presented the medal he’s long pined for, the Nobel Peace Center has reiterated its rules of possession several times in recent days.
“Once a Nobel prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” Nobel organizers wrote in a 9 January press release. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”
Earlier Thursday, Nobel organizers posted on X: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel peace prize laureate cannot.”
Machado’s dramatic escape from Venezuela to accept the Norwegian prize made headlines in December. Analysts saw her decision to present the award to Trump as an attempt to salvage her movement’s waning hopes of taking power now that Maduro was out of the picture and behind bars in New York.
María Corina Machado says she presented Trump with her Nobel peace prize medal
Speaking to reporters, Machado compared handing her medal to Trump to how, in 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette sent a gold medal featuring an image of George Washington to the South American independence hero Simón Bolívar. Machado called Lafayette’s gift “a sign of the brotherhood between the people of the US and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny”.
Trump’s decision not to back Machado after removing Maduro was reportedly the consequence of curdling relations between her and members of Trump’s team, as well as concerns her movement would be unable to control the security situation in Venezuela.
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Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act in Minnesota in response to ICE protests
Trump threatened on Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota in response to protests in Minneapolis against federal immigration enforcement operations, as Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, overnight urged demonstrators in Minneapolis to be peaceful amid escalating tensions.
How a billionaire with interests in Greenland encouraged Trump to acquire the territory
One day during his first term, Donald Trump summoned a top aide to discuss a new idea. “Trump called me down to the Oval Office,” John Bolton, national security adviser in 2018, told the Guardian. “He said a prominent businessman had just suggested the US buy Greenland.”
It was an extraordinary proposal. And it originated from a longtime friend of the president who would go on to acquire business interests in the Danish territory.
Gulf states and Turkey urged Trump not to launch strikes against Iran
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Oman urged Trump not to launch airstrikes against Iran in a last-minute lobbying campaign prompted by fears that an attack by Washington would lead to a major and intractable conflict across the Middle East.
The warnings of chaos from the longstanding US allies appear to have helped persuade Trump late on Wednesday to hold off for the moment on a military assault. In the case of Saudi Arabia, its reticence led it to deny the US use of its airspace to mount any attacks.
Experts alarmed as Trump unveils healthcare plan that ‘lacks detail’
Trump has finally unveiled his long-awaited framework for healthcare affordability, almost a year and a half after announcing during a pre-election presidential debate that he had the “concepts of a plan” for healthcare reform.
The short document, titled the Great Healthcare Plan, provides four headline objectives, but few specific details as to how they will be achieved.
Trump to discuss Venezuela’s future with Machado after Maduro’s capture
Donald Trump will host María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel peace prize winner, at the White House on Thursday for a high-stakes talks on the oil-rich nation’s future following the US capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Trump agriculture secretary’s idea for money-saving meal prompts derision
The US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is facing ridicule from congressional Democrats – among others – after claiming Americans can save money and have their meals align with new Department of Health and Human Services dietary guidelines by simply eating “a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli”, “a corn tortilla” and “one other thing”.
Alarm as Trump DoJ pushes for voter information on millions of Americans
The justice department is undertaking an unprecedented effort to collect sensitive voter information about tens of millions of Americans, a push that relies on thin legal reasoning and which could be aimed at sowing doubt about the midterm election results this year.
US appeals court reverses decision that freed Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention
A federal appeals court on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that ordered the release of the former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention, delivering the Trump administration a victory in its efforts to deport the pro-Palestinian activist.
What else happened today:
A federal officer has shot a man in the leg during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis, sparking protests in a city still on edge after the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent last week.
Some CBS News employees expressed concern after the network cited two anonymous “US officials” on Wednesday to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Good in Minneapolis “suffered internal bleeding to the torso” after the incident.
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has said Greenland’s defence is a “common concern” for the whole of Nato, as troops started arriving from across Europe as a result of Trump’s threats to take the Arctic island by force.
The scandal over the flood of intimate images on Elon Musk’s X created non-consensually by its Grok AI tool has underlined how the artificial intelligence industry is “too unconstrained”, according to a pioneer of the technology.
Speaking of Musk, a US regulator ruled on Thursday that xAI had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power massive data centers in Tennessee.
The US said on Thursday that it has signed a deal with Taiwan to reduce tariffs on goods from the democratic island, while increasing Taiwanese semiconductor and tech companies’ investments in America.
A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for a New York offshore wind project to resume construction, a victory for the developer who said a Trump administration order to pause it would probably kill the project in a matter of days.
The Trump administration has been called out, yet again, for using explicitly white supremacist verbiage in its increasingly aggressive social media strategy.
The US military has seized another oil tanker at sea in support of Donald Trump’s sanctions against Venezuela, military officials announced Thursday.
The controversial US-funded study on hepatitis B vaccines among newborns in Guinea-Bissau has been halted, according to Yap Boum, a senior official at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
US health officials reversed course and began reinstating nearly $2bn in cuts to mental health and substance use programs on Wednesday night, one day after they unexpectedly announced the immediate shutdown of programs.
Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday 14 January.
