Venezuela’s Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting : NPR
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado greets supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington.
Pablo Martínez Monsivais/AP
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Pablo Martínez Monsivais/AP
WASHINGTON — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, even as Trump questioned her credibility in taking power over her country after the United States ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.
The Nobel Institute said Machado could not present his prize to Trump, an honor he coveted. Even if this gesture appears to be purely symbolic, it is extraordinary in that Trump has effectively sidelined Machado, who has long been the face of the resistance in Venezuela. He indicated a willingness to work with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who had been Maduro’s number two.
“I gave the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado told reporters after leaving the White House and heading to the Capitol. She said she did so “in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom.”
Trump later confirmed on social media that Machado had left him the medal, and he said it was an honor to meet her.
“She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,” Trump said in his message. “It’s a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
The White House later released a photo of Machado standing next to Trump in the Oval Office as he holds the medal in a large frame. Text in the frame reads: “Presented as a personal symbol of gratitude from the Venezuelan people in recognition of President Trump’s principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela.”
Trump has cast doubt on his stated commitment to supporting democratic rule in Venezuela, without giving a timetable for when elections might take place. Machado said he provided few details on the matter during their discussion.
She did not provide further information about what was said.
“We can count on President Trump”
After the closed-door meeting, Machado greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for him near the White House gates, stopping to hug many.
“We can count on President Trump,” she told them without elaborating, prompting some to briefly chant “Thank you, Trump.”
Before her visit to Washington, Machado had not been seen in public since her trip to Norway last month, where her daughter received the peace prize on her behalf. She had spent 11 months hidden in Venezuela before reappearing in Norway after the ceremony.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, center, is greeted by Sen. Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, left, Sen. Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, far left, and Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, right, as the Nobel Peace Prize winner visits U.S. leaders at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The scene of jubilation that followed his meeting with Trump contrasted with the political realities of Venezuela. Rodríguez remains responsible for the government’s day-to-day operations, alongside other members of Maduro’s inner circle. In her first State of the Union address Thursday, the acting president encouraged a resumption of diplomatic relations between the historic adversaries and advocated opening the state-run oil industry to more foreign investment after Trump pledged to take control of Venezuelan crude sales.
Trump said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.” His party is widely believed to have won the 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado a “remarkable and courageous voice” but also said the meeting did not mean Trump’s opinion of her had changed, calling it a “realistic assessment.”
Leavitt told reporters that Trump supports new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not specify when he thought it might take place.
A “frank and positive discussion” on Venezuela
Leavitt said Machado sought to meet face-to-face without setting expectations for what would happen. She spent about two and a half hours at the White House.
“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado,” the press secretary said as the meeting continued, other than to have a “frank and positive discussion about what’s happening in Venezuela.”
After leaving the White House, Machado went to a closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.
Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said Machado told them that “if there is no progress, real progress toward a transition of power and/or elections in the next few months, we should all be concerned.”
“She reminded us that Delcy Rodríguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.
Asked if Machado had heard a commitment from the White House to hold elections in Venezuela, Murphy said, “No, I don’t think she’s gotten any commitment from them.”
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, center, leaves the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington.
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Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, rejoiced after the meeting, saying Machado “delivered a message loud and clear: what President Trump did was the most important and significant event in Latin America. That getting rid of Maduro was absolutely essential.”
Machado’s stop in Washington coincided with the seizure by U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea of another sanctioned tanker that the Trump administration said had ties to Venezuela. It’s part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife less than two weeks ago at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and took them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
Leavitt said Venezuela’s interim authorities are fully cooperating with the Trump administration and noted that Rodríguez’s government has said it plans to release more prisoners held under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.
Trump said Wednesday he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, the first since Maduro’s ouster.
Machado does not have the green light from Trump
Just hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very difficult for her to be the leader.” Machado had been careful not to offend Trump, particularly after winning the peace prize, and had sought to cultivate relationships with him and with key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
An industrial engineer and daughter of a steel tycoon, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, organized a referendum to impeach President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate leaders were accused of conspiracy.
A year later, she again incurred the ire of Chávez and his allies for traveling to Washington to meet with President George W. Bush, whom Chávez viewed as an adversary.
Nearly two decades later, she mobilized millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 elections. But electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. The anti-government protests that followed ended in brutal repression.
