Will Trump Get a Nobel Prize Today?

The short answer to that question in my headline is no but also maybe. Maria Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who won the Nobel prize last year is meeting with President Trump today at the White House. The White House is calling the meeting a courtesy but Machado is hoping to ingratiate herself with Trump enough that he might reconsider who is running Venezuela. And as part of that effort, it's possible that she might literally offer him her Nobel Peace Prize, at least the gold medal that was part of the prize . AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File In an interview last week, Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked her whether she had offered her prize to Trump. “It hasn’t happened yet,” she said, adding that the peace prize truly belonged to the Venezuelan people, “who certainly want to give it to him and share it with him.”... Robert O’Brien, who was White House national security adviser during Trump’s first term, said: “I think it would be brilliant on her part to do it. It would certainly be a real sign of good faith, thanks and gratitude for him getting rid of Maduro and giving her and the opposition a shot. Trump took a big risk in doing that.” “The Nobel Peace Prize Committee came out and said she can’t do it, but she can do whatever she wants," O'Brien continued. "Are they going to take the money away?” (The peace prize winner receives about $1.2 million, in addition to the gold medal and a certificate.) The NY Times reports that many in Norway are up in arms over the possibility. When Machado first floated the idea of sharing the prize with Trump the committee issued a statement saying it was not transferable . On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Institute clarified the rules governing the award, writing that the facts were “clear and well established.” “Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others,” the institute wrote. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”... The Norwegian Nobel Institute, in its statement, also linked to a page on its website that said that the Nobel Peace Prize, once awarded, could not be revoked. According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, it wrote, “no appeals may be made against the decision of a prize-awarding body with regard to the award of a prize.” Bottom line, Machado won the prize and she can do whatever she wants with it, including give it away for obvious political reasons. And for his part, Trump seems inclined to take it, saying "it would be a great honor." Nevertheless, Norwegians seem upset about the possibility of the prize going, even unofficially to a president many of them dislike . “A Nobel committee can never guard against peace prize laureates committing acts that run counter to the intention of the prize,’’ Lena Lindgren, a columnist for the Norwegian weekly Morgenbladet, said in an interview. “But what is new now is...

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