Hillary Clinton said she would nominate President Donald Trump for his long-awaited Nobel Peace Prize if he could broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that did not “capitulate” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Clinton, the former secretary of state who once ran a campaign against Trump, issued her bold declaration on the Raging Moderates podcast to incentivize the president not to give in to Putin’s demands.
“I understand, from everything I read, that he would very much like to receive the Nobel Peace Prize,” Clinton told co-host Jessica Tarlov. “If he could end it, without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, had to, in a way, validate Putin’s vision of greater Russia, but instead could really stand up to Putin…. I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Clinton said the president has an opportunity to be the “architect” of a peace deal that would not give Putin any of Ukraine’s territory or allow Russian troops to remain in areas it has already seized.
“If we could pull that off, if President Trump were the architect of that, I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin, aided and abetted by the United States,” Clinton added.
Clinton’s comments arise as Trump prepares to meet Putin in Alaska, marking the first time the pair have met face-to-face during the president’s second term.
Trump has long sought to broker a deal between the two countries, even making it a campaign promise. However, he’s struggled to get Russia to meaningfully engage in peace talks and has hit several bumps with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky will not be part of the meeting, but he and other European leaders have remained in close communication with Trump and made clear that meaningful negotiations must include Ukraine.
Some have expressed concern about Trump making major concessions to Putin because the president’s history of praising his Russian counterpart and his administration’s criticism of Zelensky.
“He gains nothing by capitulating to Putin,” Clinton said on the podcast.
The former secretary of state said the terms of a peace deal need to include a “cease-fire,” “no exchange of territory,” and “that over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized.”
Should the president broker a deal of that sort, Clinton would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, which the president has long hoped for and recently made a push for.
Recently, the president has dropped obvious hints that he is gunning for the prize – which former President Barack Obama was awarded in 2009 – by posting about it on Truth Social, mentioning it in meetings, and having members of his administration campaign on his behalf.
So far, Trump has helped broker deals between Cambodia and Thailand, Pakistan and India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and intervened in the conflict between Israel and Iran. Several world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have nominated the president for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Norwegian press also claim that the president called a minister “out the blue” last month to ask about the prize.
Trump has warned that there is a 25 percent chance that the Alaska summit fails but, if he is successful, Clinton will become perhaps the most unlikely name on the list of those calling for him to receive the award.
“You can dream, Jessica. You can dream. I’m dreaming that for whatever combination of reasons, including the elusive Nobel Peace Prize, President Trump may actually stand up to Putin,” Clinton said.
Trump ally accuses Zelensky of ‘sabotage’ before key Putin meeting
Trump’s Peace Prize envy is just the latest round in his obsession with one-upping Obama
Trump-Putin summit live: Trump posts two-word message ahead of meeting on Ukraine
DC sues Trump over ‘hostile takeover’ of city’s police
Watch live: Trump and Putin hold high stakes Ukraine summit in Alaska
