The White House has criticised the Norwegian Nobel Committee after Donald Trump was overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded instead to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, accused the committee of prioritising 'politics over peace', insisting that Trump has 'the heart of a humanitarian'.
Trump's special envoy, Richard Grenell, dismissed the prize as irrelevant, while Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, told Fox News that Trump 'deserves it more than anyone alive on this planet right now', blaming 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' for the snub. Trump had openly campaigned for the prize, pushing through a Gaza ceasefire deal ahead of the announcement, a move diplomats say was timed to bolster his chances.
The Nobel Committee's citation praised Machado for defending democracy against authoritarianism, a statement critics interpreted as a veiled rebuke of Trump's domestic policies. Christopher Sabatini of Chatham House predicted Trump would be 'peeved', noting his 'shameless' lobbying for the award. Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in, praising Trump's crisis resolution efforts while questioning the committee's past decisions.
