Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she gifted President Donald Trump her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal "because he deserves it" during an exclusive interview with FOX & Friends that aired Friday (January 16) morning, hours after their White House meeting on Thursday (January 15).

"And, um, it was a very emotional moment," Machado added.

Trump will keep the Nobel Peace Prize medal presented to him by Machado, a White House official confirmed via CNN. Machado told dozens of cheering supporters near the gates of the White House that she presented Trump with her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize "as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom," which he confirmed in a post shared on his Truth Social account.

"It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!" Trump wrote.

Machado had previously told FOX News' Sean Hannity that she would "personally" give her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump after he launched a raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“Let me be very clear, as soon as I learned that we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I dedicated to Trump because I knew at that point, he deserved it. And lot of people, most people said it was impossible to achieve what he has just done on Saturday, January 3rd. And so, I believe he deserved it," said Maduro, who had been living in hiding under Maduro's regime since 2004. “January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny,” she claimed. “It’s a milestone, and it’s not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it’s a huge step for humanity, for freedom, and human dignity.”

Trump told Hannity last week that it would be a "great honor" to receive the Nobel Peace Prize from Machado during their meeting. Trump publicly campaigned to receive the Nobel Peace Prize prior to announcing the brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with with Nobel Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes claiming that Machado, had already been selected on October 6, two days before his announcement of the peace deal in the Middle East.

“In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I think this committee has seen many types of campaign, media attention,” Frydnes said, without naming Trump, via the New York Post. “We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace."

“This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel,” he added.

Machado is the leader of the Vente Venezuela opposition party, having served as a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014. The Caracas native played a key role in organizing protests against Maduro, at which point she was blocked from running for president and expelled from office.

Machado won the opposition party in 2023 to become the unity candidate for the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election, but was disqualified from holding public office by the Comptroller General of Venezuela in June 2023, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court of Justice in January 2024, leading to her being replaced by Corina Yoris and later Edmundo González Urrutia in the election.

Mike McConnell