The White House has slammed the Nobel Committee after US President Donald Trump was not selected for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, calling the omission “politically motivated.”
Taking to X, White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said, “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will. The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, bypassing U.S. President Donald Trump, who had openly expressed interest in receiving the honor.
The decision was widely interpreted as a rebuff to President Trump, whose supporters had lobbied for his nomination, citing his past diplomatic initiatives.
Hours before the announcement, President Trump lashed out at former President Barack Obama, criticising his 2009 Nobel win and accusing him of “destroying our country.”
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More Shorts“He got it for doing nothing,” Trump said. “Obama got a prize—he didn’t even know what for. He got elected, and they gave it to him for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, only eight months into his first term. At the time, the committee cited “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
President Trump, who returned to office in January, has been vocal about his desire to receive the prize, pointing to his administration’s role in brokering peace in Gaza and ending what he claims were eight ongoing wars.
“I’m driven by results, not recognition,” Trump has said in recent months, while also reportedly pressuring the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), which advises the Nobel Committee, to support his candidacy.
Despite those efforts, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to María Corina Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” according to the Nobel Committee’s citation.
The award, worth 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.2 million), recognises Machado’s leadership in defending democracy in Venezuela at a time when global democratic institutions face growing threats.
The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony will take place on December 10 in Oslo, commemorating the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
With inputs from agencies