Trump claims Nobel Peace Prize winner called and told him he really deserved it

President Donald Trump has never shied away from lashing out against any slight against him, real or perceived, but after the Norwegian committee responsible for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize snubbed him in favor of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado he held this tongue on the matter — at least for a few hours, The Independent reported.

During a press conference in the Oval Office on Friday announcing new reduced drug costs stemming from a deal with U.K. based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, Trump was asked how he felt about the Nobel Prize announcement.

Trump began by referencing the recent ceasefire and hostage release plan negotiated between Israel and Hamas, calling it the “most important deal ever made in terms of peace,” and took credit for the accomplishment. That deal is still a long way from a peaceful resolution, as no hostages have yet been released, Israel has still not fully withdrawn from Gaza, and Hamas has not disarmed.

But that did not stop Trump from lumping it in with the other seven “wars” he claims to have helped end during his presidency, explaining several of the conflicts in detail before commenting on Machado, who actually won the prize.

“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it. A very nice thing to do,” Trump said.

He then assured reporters that he didn’t demand the award from Machado.

“I didn't say ‘then give it to me,’ though, I think she might have,” Trump said. “She was very nice. And I've been, you know, I've been helping her along the way. She — they need a lot of help in Venezuela, it's a basic disaster.”

His comments following the 5 p.m. Friday press conference were the first he’d made publicly about the early morning Nobel Peace Prize announcement.

A glut of social media posts emanating from the president’s Truth Social account Friday morning touched on multiple subjects, including reposting praise he’d received for his role in helping broker the deal that has brought about a ceasefire in Israel’s two-year-old war against Hamas in Gaza.