White House communications director Steven Cheung said on Sunday that the Nobel Foundation should at least highlight US President Donald Trump’s “unprecedented achievements” if he cannot be awarded the peace prize.
Cheung argued that Trump “rightly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize” for his efforts to end global conflicts around the world. “Instead of trying to play politics, they should be highlighting the president’s unprecedented achievements,” he wrote on X.
Cheung’s statement came days after Nobel laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump during their meeting on Thursday, describing the gesture as recognition of his support for Venezuelan freedom and democratic efforts.
Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in promoting democratic rights and peaceful transition in Venezuela.
Speaking to reporters after her meeting with Trump, Machado said she gave the medal as a symbol of recognition for his “unique commitment to our freedom.”
“I presented the President of the United States with a medal… the Nobel Peace Prize and I told him this: 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with the face of George Washington. Bolivar has kept this medal for the rest of his life since then. It was given as a symbol of brotherhood to show the relationship between the people of the United States and Venezuela,” Machado said.
“Two hundred years into history, the people of Bolivar are returning a medal, in this case a Nobel Peace Prize medal, to Washington’s heir in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom,” she added.
Machado’s gesture was also recognized by President Trump, who called it a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect” in a post on Truth Social and thanked her for the medal.
“The prize cannot be handed over even symbolically”
The Nobel Foundation reiterated on Sunday that Nobel prizes cannot be transferred or redistributed, days after the institute issued a statement that a laureate cannot share or transfer the award once it is announced.
On Sunday, a post on X said that one of the main missions of the Nobel Foundation is to protect the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration.
The post noted: “The Foundation supports Alfred Nobel’s will and its provisions. It states that the prizes will be awarded to those who have ‘brought the greatest benefit to humanity,’ and specifies who has the right to award each prize. Therefore, the prize cannot be transferred or redistributed, even symbolically.”
Earlier on January 16, the Nobel Prize’s official website said: “The laureate cannot share the prize with others or transfer it once it has been announced.”
He added: “The Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and valid at all times. The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not see it as its role to engage in daily commentary on the Peace Prize laureates or the political processes in which they are involved.”
“The prize is awarded based on the contributions of the laureate until the committee decides,” the committee said.
