Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

Despite being passed over by Trump for installation in any leadership role in Venezuela so far, Machado presented Trump with her framed Nobel medal along with a certificate of gratitude during a Thursday meeting at the White House. Trump subsequently posted on his Truth Social network that "Mara presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect." That gesture prompted the Norwegian Nobel Committee to issue a statement noting that the prize cannot be given away.

"Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else's possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize," the committee said. "A laureate cannot share the prize with others, nor transfer it once it has been announced. A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time." The committee's statement was extraordinary"but this is not the first time that a Nobel winner gave away their prize. In 1943, Norwegian author Knut Hamsun gifted his 1920 Nobel Prize for Literature"awarded for his novel Markens Grde (Growth of the Soil)"to Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels after a trip to Germany.