Nobel Foundation Panics After Machado Gifts Trump Her Award, Says Prize Cannot Be ‘Passed On’

The Nobel Foundation is in full damage-control mode after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado handed her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump last week.

In a flurry of statements, the foundation insisted that Nobel prizes are non-transferable—even symbolically—and warned that any attempt to do so undermines the “dignity” of the award. The panic comes amid mounting global praise for Trump’s leadership in toppling the Venezuelan dictatorship and capturing Nicolás Maduro.

“One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes,” the organization said Sunday, clearly responding to Machado’s bold gesture at the White House. “A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed.”

Machado had presented Trump with her Nobel medal during a public meeting, telling reporters the award belonged in the hands of the man who “freed Venezuela.” Trump accepted the gift, saying it was a moment of “historic justice.”

The Nobel Foundation scrambled to clarify that despite whatever happens to the physical medal, the title of Nobel laureate is forever attached to the originally named recipient.

“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history,” the foundation stated in a second release issued Friday. “A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time.”

Despite those assurances, the foundation’s tone suggested concern about being seen as aligned with Trump, who has been nominated multiple times for the award but never selected.

Trump’s surprise reception of the prize from Machado came just days after the successful U.S. military operation that ended with Maduro in federal custody in New York. The former Venezuelan strongman is now facing charges tied to narcoterrorism and human rights abuses.

Machado called Trump’s leadership “unmatched” and said the medal transfer was her way of honoring “the man who actually brought peace.”

The White House has not commented on the Nobel Foundation’s reaction.