Nobel Peace Prize chair responds to Trump’s pressure campaign
· The Hill via Yahoo NewsThe chair of the Nobel Peace Prize committee responded Friday to President Trump’s public pressure campaign to win the award, telling reporters that the deliberation process for choosing the awardee prioritizes courage and integrity.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado as 2025’s prize winner, describing her as an “extraordinary example of civilian courage” in the face of a brutal and authoritarian state.
“This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity,” Frydnes said in response to a question on Trump’s intense lobbying to win the award.
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“So how we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel,” Frydnes continued.
The Nobel Peace Prize was established by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish scientist and entrepreneur most famous for his invention of dynamite. In his will, Nobel dedicated his fortune to establishing the five awards highlighting the greatest contributions to humanity in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for work in peace.
The 2025 peace prize selection drew increased global scrutiny and fascination amid Trump’s intensive campaign for the award and routine criticism that he hasn’t been recognized for accomplishments during his first term, particularly helping broker the Abraham Accords.
Trump has repeatedly claimed he has ended seven wars during his first seven months back in office, though some of those conflicts weren’t wars or haven’t stopped.
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Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications, accused the Nobel committee of putting “politics over peace” in choosing Machado.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” he wrote in a post on social platform X.
Frydnes, in announcing Machado as the winner, described her as a key unifying figure bringing together an oppressed and disparate opposition to challenge the autocratic rule of Nicolás Maduro. He praised her decision to remain in the country, despite having to go into hiding for safety, as a “choice inspiring millions.”
Frydnes said that in selecting Machado, who has worked for free and fair elections for decades, the Nobel committee was also elevating the increasing threats to democratic governance and the rise of authoritarian regimes.
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“Living in a world where we have less and less democracies and more and more authoritarian regime, means that the world is also getting more unsafe,” Frydnes said.
“We believe that democracy is a precondition for peace. And so yes, that is the message to the world. We need to support the democratic forces also on behalf of peace.”
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