Venezuelan opposition leader said she presented Nobel medal to Trump

Venezuelan opposition leader Machado said she presented Trump with Nobel medal Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington.Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images This combination of pictures created on January 14, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2025 and Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2025. On January 15 US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose pro-democracy movement he has sidelined since toppling her country's leader, and whose Nobel Peace Prize he openly envies.Mandel Ngan,odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump met Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who said she presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. Details about the closed-door meeting were not immediately revealed by the White House. Asked about the meeting by ABC News' Mary Bruce, Trump said it went "great." Machado told reporters as she was exiting the White House that she presented Trump with her prize and reflected on the history between the two countries. "I told him this ... Listen to this -- 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept that medal for the rest of his life," she told reporters. "Actually, when you see his portraits, you can see the medal there. And it was given by General Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, people of United States, and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny. And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington, a medal, in this case a medal of a Nobel Peace Prize, and a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom," she added. Simon Bolivar liberated Venezuela and several other Latin American countries from Spanish rule in the 1800s. The Marquis de Lafayette was a French national who volunteered to fight with American colonists during the Revolutionary War and eventually rose to be one of George Washington's most trusted generals. Machado didn't offer any more details about her meeting with Trump. She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work "promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela" and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy. Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced in October 2025. She said last week that she would like to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the successful U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces drug trafficking...

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