Trump calls Nobel Peace Prize choice of Navi Pillay ‘disgraceful’

US President Donald Trump called the Nobel Peace Prize choice of South African judge Navi Pillay “disgraceful” at a rally in Syracuse, New York, on Friday.

He said the decision left an “indelible stain” on Norway, arguing the award should have gone to him.

What did Trump say about the Nobel Peace Prize decision?

Trump labelled the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision”. “I never heard of this particular person, but congratulations anyway,” he said of Pillay. The committee awarded Pillay the prize in recognition of her work against war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He said the choice of Pillay as laureate left “an indelible stain on the country of Norway”. He added: “The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t.”

Trump also said: “The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilisation.”

Has Trump long wanted the Nobel Peace Prize?

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.

Experts in Oslo, speaking before Pillay was announced as laureate, said several factors disqualified him. They cited his war against Iran, his territorial expansion ambitions as in Greenland, his hard line on migrants, and his attacks on multilateralism and the media.

Pillay, a South African judge and human rights champion, had joked about sharing her prize with Trump. She told a crowd who applauded her after the announcement of the award: “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.” The jibe appeared to refer to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who gave her Nobel gold medal to Trump after winning the prize last year.