Washington, Oct 10 (IANS) Hours after the Nobel Committee ignored US President Donald Trump’s candidature for the peace prize and awarded it to Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, Steven Cheung, Assistant to the President and White House Director of Communications, accused the Committee of placing “politics over peace.”

Cheung posted on X, “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. The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

However, the deadline to nominate was January 31, just 11 days into Trump’s second term. He could be in contention for the prize next year.

Trump, on multiple occasions, has expressed his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize, arguing that he had ended several global wars.

The clamour intensified since both Hamas and Israel signed Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded a Nobel Prize for Trump, posting on X, “Give @realDonaldTrump the Nobel Peace Prize – he deserves it!”

During his meeting with the Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Thursday, Trump targeted former US President Barack Obama for receiving the peace prize for “doing nothing.”

“Obama got it for doing nothing. Obama got a peace prize. He didn’t even know what he got it. He got elected, and they gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country. He was not a good president. The worst president was Sleepy Joe Biden, but Obama was not a good president. How many months after he won the election, then they gave him the peace prize, right afterwards, my election was a much more important election,” he added.

Obama received the award in 2009 for his role in international diplomacy. At the time, the then US President had expressed surprise in his acceptance speech.

“I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labours on the world stage,” he had said.

Trump on Thursday again claimed that he is credited with stopping eight wars. “I know that nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months. And I have stopped eight wars. So that’s never happened before.”

–IANS

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