Trump's quest for the Nobel Peace Prize falls short again despite high-profile nominations

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the prize, after she was nominated last year by a group that included then-Sen. Marco Rubio, who is now Trump’s secretary of state. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Machado, however, said she wanted to dedicate the win to Trump, along with the people of her country, as she praised the president for support of her cause.

Her campaign manager Magalli Meda confirmed that Trump congratulated Machado in a phone call Friday.

At the White House later, Trump listed the peace efforts he’d made while in office this year —something that's become a frequent habit as he appears before the media — and was wistful as he spoke about Machado winning.

“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called me and said, ‘I’m accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it.’” he said.

“I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me,’” he added, drawing chuckles from his advisers. “I think she might have. She was very nice.”

He also suggested the award, which has a Feb. 1 deadline for nominations, was given out for 2024 achievements.

“You could also say it was given out for ’24, and I was running for office in ’24,” Trump said.

The tone from the White House was much sourer early Friday, shortly after the award was announced. White House communications director Steven Cheung said members of “the Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace" because they didn't recognize Trump, especially after the Gaza ceasefire deal his administration helped strike this week.

Machado's opposition to President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela aligns with the Trump administration's own stance on Venezuela, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously praised her as “the personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism.”

Trump, who has long coveted the prestigious prize, has been outspoken about his desire for the honor during both of his presidential terms, particularly lately as he takes credit for ending conflicts around the world. The Republican president has also expressed doubts that the Nobel committee would ever grant him the award.

Although Trump received nominations for the prize, many of them occurred after the February deadline for the 2025 award, which fell just a week and a half into his second term. His name was, however, put forward in December by Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, her office said in a statement, for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the committee has seen various campaigns in its long history of awarding the peace prize.

“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace,” he said. “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.”

The peace prize, first awarded in 1901, was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts. Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that the prize should go to someone “who shall 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.”

Three sitting U.S. presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Barack Obama in 2009. Jimmy Carter won the prize in 2002, a full two decades after leaving office. Former Vice President Al Gore received the prize in 2007.

Obama, a Democrat who was a focus of Trump's attacks well before the Republican was elected, won the prize early in his tenure as president.

“They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” Trump said Thursday.

As one of his reasons for deserving the award, Trump often says he has ended seven wars, though some of the conflicts the president claims to have resolved were merely tensions and his role in easing them is disputed.

But while there is hope for the end to Israel and Hamas’ war, with Israel saying a ceasefire agreement with Hamas came into effect Friday, much remains uncertain about the aspects of the broader plan, including whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza. And little progress seems to have been made in the Russia-Ukraine war, a conflict Trump claimed during the 2024 campaign that he could end in one day.

As Trump pushes for peaceful resolutions to some conflicts abroad, the country he governs remains deeply divided and politically fraught. Trump has kicked off what he hopes to be the largest deportation program in American history to remove immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He is using the levers of government, including the Justice Department, to go after his perceived political enemies. He has sent the military into U.S. cities over local opposition to stop crime and crack down on immigration enforcement.

Internationally, he also touched off global trade wars with his on-again, off-again tariffs, which he wields as a threat to bend other countries and companies to his will. He asserted presidential war powers by declaring cartels to be unlawful combatants and launching lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean that he alleged were carrying drugs.

The full list of people nominated is secret, but anyone who submits a nomination is free to talk about it. Trump's detractors say supporters, foreign leaders and others are submitting Trump's name for nomination for the prize — and announcing it publicly — not because he deserves it but because they see it as a way to manipulate him and stay in his good graces.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who this summer said he was nominating Trump for the prize, on Friday reposted Cheung’s response with the comment: “The Nobel Committee talks about peace. President @realDonaldTrump makes it happen.”

“The facts speak for themselves,” Netanyahu's office said on X. “President #Trump deserves it.”

The authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said Trump deserved the prize and said it was “sheer stupidity” for him not to receive it.

Lukashenko, whose government has faced sweeping Western sanctions for its brutal crackdown on critics after a contested 2020 election, had a phone call with Trump in August that sparked speculation of a possible thaw in relations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent troops to Ukraine in 2022 and has sought to show alignment with Trump, told reporters in Taijikistan on Friday that it’s not up to him to judge whether Trump should have received the prize, but he praised the ceasefire deal for Gaza.

He also criticized the Nobel Committee’s prior decisions, saying it has in the past awarded the prize to those who have done little to advance global peace.

Putin's remarks nearly echoed the comments Trump made about Obama, and the U.S. leader responded to his Russian counterpart's praise by posting on social media, “Thank you to President Putin!”

Others who formally submitted a nomination for Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — but after this year's deadline — include Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Pakistan's government, all citing his work in helping end conflicts in their regions.

Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Washington, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves from atop a truck during the closing election campaign rally for presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - Activists carry signs during a protest against President Donald Trump's federal takeover of policing of the District of Columbia, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump departs following a joint press conference with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Jones slammed his helmet to the ground several times before eventually limping to the sideline.

He was reacting to his latest injury, which might be season-ending. His body language was indicative of how the Indianapolis Colts must feel with the AFC South — and their once-promising season — slipping away.

Already playing with a broken bone in his left leg, Jones injured his right Achilles tendon in a 36-19 loss at Jacksonville on Sunday.

“Could be season-ending. I don’t have the full details on it, but we’ll get more clarity on that,” coach Shane Steichen said. "Not for sure, but it’s not looking good.”

Jones dropped to the ground after throwing incomplete and immediately grabbed the back of his right leg. He eventually got up and made his way to the sideline and then the locker room for tests. He returned to the sideline in the second half wearing a walking boot.

Riley Leonard replaced him, but the Colts (8-5) were essentially done for the day.

They might be done for the season. With Jones injured and four winning teams — Seattle, San Francisco, Jacksonville and Houston — left on the schedule, no one should be surprised if Indy doesn't win again.

Cornerback Kenny Moore called this loss — the team's third in a row and fourth in five games — a dagger.

Jones' injury surely had a lot to do with it. Jones' resurgence was a big reason the Colts started the season 7-1. He signed a one-year contract in free agency and beat out Anthony Richardson in training camp.

But with potentially a nine-month rehab in front of him, the Colts could be looking for a new starter in March.

“Anytime you lose a guy that puts in so much work and so much effort, and is always there for his team, and showing up with a fibula injury and goes out there and freaking plays, just so much respect for him," Steichen said. "Just so much respect.”

With Richardson on injured reserve with a broken orbital bone, Leonard is the only other quarterback on Indy's roster. Brett Rypien is on the practice squad.

Jones played several games though a broken left leg. He said he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the injury occurred or when he first noticed something didn’t seem right. He maintained the past two weeks he felt healthy enough to play.

His performance, however, told a different story. As defenses put increasingly more pressure on Jones, he has looked less mobile and has been less accurate than in Indy’s first eight games.

He completed 5 of 7 passes for 60 yards, with an interception against Jacksonville. Leonard completed 18 of 29 passes for 145 yards, with a touchdown run and an interception.

“I was actually impressed with what he did in the situation," Steichen said. "I thought he went in and competed his tail off.”

Leonard credited Jones with getting him ready to play and praised him for playing through the broken leg.

“Daniel’s the toughest guy that I’ve ever been around, by far in my life," Leonard said. "He’s the most competitive person that I’ve ever met. So it’s no surprise that he came back out there to cheer us on. I remember going over the sideline, and he was just first one to put the raincoat on me, the first one to ask me what I see on that play and help me out and what to expect on certain situations.

“It’s just exactly who he is, whether he’s playing or not. He’s very consistent, man. So I really respect that about him.”

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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) walks off the field after an injury during the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) grabs his leg after an injury during the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)