Nobel Committee responds to Trump’s push for Peace Prize, points to ‘courage and integrity’

The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday downplayed US President Donald Trump’s months-long campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that while the committee receives “thousands of letters” from around the world, its decision rests solely on the ideals set forth by Alfred Nobel.

When asked about whether Trump’s self-promoted bid for the award affected the deliberations and the thinking in the committee, chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said, “In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I think this committee has seen any type of campaign, media attention.”

“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year — of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace. This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So, we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”

Frydnes’ remarks came after weeks of speculation that Trump might be among the nominees for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, speculation stoked by Trump himself and his supporters. The US president has repeatedly said he “deserves” the prize and claimed that it would be “an insult to the United States” if he did not receive it.

At the United Nations last month, Trump told delegates that “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize,” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added to the campaign with a post on X showing an edited image of himself placing a large Nobel medal around Trump’s neck.

“Give @realDonaldTrump the Nobel Peace Prize — he deserves it!” Netanyahu wrote.

Even the Republican Jewish Coalition, a major conservative group, joined in, saying the prize should not only go to Trump but be renamed after him.

Despite the noise, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded this year’s Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, recognising her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Machado, 57, who has spent much of the past year in hiding, was hailed as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”

“Maria Corina Machado has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace,” the committee said in its citation. “She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard.”

The Nobel Peace Prize, named after Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, has long been regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious honours. Nobel’s will stipulated that the prize should be awarded to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”