Nobel Peace Prize winner slammed after offering Trump her award in bizarre interview

The winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize has been criticised after bizarrely offering her reward to President Donald Trump in the wake of the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

María Corina Machado, the opposition leader of Venezuela, was awarded the Peace Prize in October 2025 after Trump stated on multiple occasions that he felt he himself deserved the award.

Machado served as an elected member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014. The opposition leader was handed the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony on 10 December 2025 in Oslo, Norway.

Prior to the award being handed out, Trump spoke about the prize and even touched on it during his first term in the White House.

During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in February 2025, the Republican president said: "They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me."

Donald Trump has spoken often about how he felt he deserved the award (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Trump has said on several occasions that his influence has been key in stopping multiple wars across the world.

"I've done six wars, I've ended six wars," the president said during a summit with Ukrainian and European leaders. "If you look at the six deals I settled this year, they were all at war. I didn't do any ceasefires."

Machado, who was Maduro's political rival, spoke of her delight over the president's dramatic capture by the US on January 3.

"January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny," she said on Monday (January 5). "It's a milestone, and it's not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it's a huge step for humanity, for freedom, and human dignity."

Fox’s Sean Hannity spoke with the Nobel Peace Prize winner on Monday, with the journalist asking her if she would give the award to Trump following recent events.

María Corina Machado claimed the Noble Piece Prize last month (Rune Hellestad/Getty Images)

"Well, it hasn’t happened yet, but I certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we believe the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people, certainly want to give it to him and share it with him," Machado said.

Many have flocked to social media sites such as X to criticise the Venezuelan politician, as one person asked: "What type of leader would she be for Venezuela if she bows down to another world leader this fast?"

Meanwhile, another social media user dubbed the Nobel Peace Prize a 'joke' following the comments made by the recent winner.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have since been charged with a series of criminal charges, which include: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive Devices against the United States.

Maduro has pleaded not guilty while insisting he's 'still president'.