Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado walked out of the White House on Thursday after giving President Donald Trump her coveted Nobel Peace Prize award, holding a deep red bag with his signature on it.
Machado, an open critic of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, dedicated her award to Trump last year, after he had fiercely campaigned to get it for himself.
She teased wanting to give the U.S. president her award earlier this month following Maduro’s capture during a controversial U.S military operation in her country, despite Trump claiming Machado lacked the “respect” needed from the Venezuelan people to lead the country.
Regardless of the U.S president’s lack of support, Machado gave him her award Thursday, comparing the moment to the Continental Army General Marquis de Lafayette giving Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar a medal featuring an image of George Washington.
“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. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, still not endorsing her.
