Washington — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented President Trump with her real Nobel Peace Prize medallion during her visit to the White House on Thursday, two White House officials told CBS News.
The medallion, which was not a replica, the sources said, was presented after Machado offered to share her Nobel Prize with him for what she said was his “historic” action of removing former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power. Machado told senators on Capitol Hill she had an “extraordinary” meeting with Mr. Trump, according to a post from her spokesperson’s office translated into English.
Machado floated the possibility of sharing the prize with Mr. Trump earlier this month. The president has not divulged details of their conversation.
“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition.”
After Machado’s offer to share the prize with the president, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes clarified it cannot be shared or transferred. The Nobel Peace Center also said Thursday, “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.”
Machado was awarded the prize for being a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided — an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government.”
The Trump administration has said little about a democratic transition in Venezuela. The country’s interim president is Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president. Mr. Trump spoke Wednesday with Rodríguez, calling her a “terrific person.”
Mr. Trump has not endorsed Machado to be Venezuela’s next president, as some thought he might after Maduro’s arrest, despite the recognition she’s received for her efforts to restore democracy to the struggling country. He has said he thinks it would be “tough” for Machado to lead Venezuela because “she doesn’t have the support within — or the respect within — the country.”
But Machado, asked in a recent interview by “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil if she believes she is the right person to lead Venezuela in the first chapter of its post-Maduro future, said that “the people of Venezuela have already chosen,” adding that her coalition is “ready and willing to serve our people, as we have been mandated.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday the president “was looking forward to this meeting and he was expecting it to be a good and positive discussion with Miss Machado, who is really a remarkable and brave voice for many people of the people of Venezuela.”
As for the president’s assessment that it would be hard for her to lead Venezuela because, in his words, she lacks the support, Leavitt said “at this moment in time, his opinion on that matter has not changed.”
Kylie Cooper / REUTERS 
On Thursday morning, the Pentagon confirmed the seizure of yet another oil tanker in the Caribbean, at least the sixth such seizure of a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil.
The U.S. officially began selling Venezuelan oil this week. The first U.S. sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, has been completed, an administration official said Wednesday. Mr. Trump says the U.S. will be selling up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, if not more.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday on Newsmax that the funds will likely start moving back to Venezuela as soon as Friday.
