WhilePresident Donald Trumpmight have the medal in hand, the2025 Nobel Peace Prizeawarded to Venezuelan opposition leaderMaría Corina Machadocannot be redistributed to him, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement following Machado's move to present the president with the award at their Jan. 15meeting at the White House.
Machado'sdecision to give Trump the awarddoes not change the recipient of the prize, the Nobel Foundationsaid in a statementon Jan. 16. The Nobel Foundation aims to "safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration" and uphold "Alfred Nobel's will and its stipulations," the statement said.
"...the prizes shall be awarded to those who 'have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,' and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize," the statement reads. "A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed."
Statement from the Nobel FoundationOne of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel's will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who…pic.twitter.com/WIadOBLtpD
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize)January 18, 2026
Machado wasgranted the award in October 2025. Trump openly lobbied to be awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, but the honor was instead given to Machado for her "efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela," the Nobel Committee said when she won, including in "the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela,"the Nobel Prize outreach website states.
Machado was blocked in 2024 from running in Venezuela's presidential election by the regime of President Nicolás Maduro, and instead supported the opposition's alternative candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. Maduro and González both declared victory in the July 2024 presidential election, but many foreign leaders, including Trump, have questioned or rejected thelegitimacy of Maduro's winover González.
More:Nobel Institute says Machado's Peace Prize cannot be 'transferred' to Trump
In the time since the awards, Maduro was captured byU.S. forcesalongside his wife, Cilia Flores, on Jan. 3, and faces narcotrafficking and corruption charges.Delcy Rodríguez, the country's vice president under Maduro, has sworn in as Venezuela's new interim president. Rodríguez has said she wants to collaborate with the U.S. administration, and Trump has praised the interim president forher cooperationas theU.S. begins to sell Venezuelan oil.
Some see Machado's gifting of the peace prize as anattempt to earn Trump'ssupport going forward as Venezuela continues through its leadership change. Machado alsodedicated the prize to Trumpafter she initially won in October.
This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic…
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA)October 10, 2025
Still, the Nobel Foundation and Institute maintains that the award and honor cannot be reassigned. In a previousstatement, the Nobel Institute clarified that a "Nobel Prize can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time."
"It is not possible to revoke a Nobel Peace Prize. Neither Alfred Nobel's will nor the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation mention any such possibility," according to the Nobel Institute.
More:Why did María Corina Machado give Trump her Nobel Peace Prize?
However, Trump plans to keep thelong-covetedaward, a White House official confirmed to USA TODAY on Jan 16. The 18-carat gold medal was presented in a large gold frame, with the following inscription: "In Gratitude for Your Extraordinary Leadership in Promoting Peace through Strength, Advancing Diplomacy, and Defending Liberty and Property."
A certificate included in the gesture reads, "presented as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people in recognition ofPresident Trump's principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela."
During the presentation of the award, Machado recounted how Marquis de Lafayette, the French officer who joined the Continental Army under George Washington in the American Revolutionary War, had handed a medal with the image of Washington, the first U.S. president, to Venezuelan military officer Simon Bolivar who fought against Spain in 1825.
"Two hundred years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal," she said. "in this case, the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom."
Contributing: Kinsey Crowley, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy and Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY
Kate Perez covers national trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@usatodayco.com or on X @katecperez_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Nobel Prize cannot be 'passed on' after awarded, Nobel Foundation says
