Breaking News:Donald Trump indicates Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado might give him her Nobel Peace Prize– What Just Happened

Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has offered to share her Nobel Peace Prize with U.S. President Donald Trump, and the President indicated she might give him her award when they meet.

Mr. Trump will meet Ms. Machado in Washington next week, he said on Thursday (January 8, 2026), adding that she intends to give him her Nobel Peace Prize, which he has long coveted.

Referring to Ms. Machado’s offering, Mr. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview, “I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honour.”

In Oslo, the Nobel Institute stressed the prize cannot be transferred from one person to another.

“A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked nor transferred to others,” Nobel Institute spokesman Erik Aasheim told AFP.

“Once the announcement of the laureate(s) has been made, the decision stands for all time,” he said, noting however that the laureate was free to do what they please with the prize money.

On Thursday (January 8, 2026), Mr. Trump said it was a “major embarrassment” for Norway that he did not win the prize.

While its five members are appointed by the Scandinavian country’s Parliament, the Nobel committee which awards the prize insists its decisions are entirely independent of Norway’s government.

“The Norwegian authorities have nothing to do with the Nobel committee’s decisions,” Norway’s state secretary for foreign affairs, Eivind Vad Petersson, told AFP.

Mr. Trump said last week that Ms. Machado does not have the respect or support within Venezuela to lead the country and has since suggested the U.S. could effectively control Venezuela for years.

He told Fox News on Thursday that the South American country, currently led by Mr. Maduro’s Vice President, interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, was not in a position to hold fresh elections.

“We have to rebuild the country. They couldn’t have an election,” he said.

“They wouldn’t even know how to have an election right now.”

The meeting would be the first between the U.S. president and Ms. Machado, who left hiding in Venezuela to accept the award in Oslo last year, and comes just over a week after U.S. forces toppled her rival, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.