The Norwegian Nobel Institute has responded to President Donald Trump’s extended tantrum about not receiving a Nobel Peace Prize.
Director Kristian Berg Harpviken told The Atlantic in a Sunday interview that the institute hoped to increase transparency around the selection process in an attempt to defend against accusations of bias leveled at it by Trump and his supporters.
“The strategy for clearing the air is simply to talk about it,” Harpviken said. While declining to mention Trump by name, referring to him only as the “candidate in question,” he explained the strategy as aimed at ensuring the masses understand the institute’s work.
“We see it as important that as many people as possible understand how it is that we work and what the principles are,” Harpviken told the Atlantic. “Whether those lobbying for the prize are receptive to that or not is really beyond our control.”
Harpviken added that “we haven’t had the embassy or officials knocking on our doors” when it comes to attempts to sway the committee. “Nothing like that.” He added that they will not be influenced either way. “A candidate who is aggressively campaigning for him or herself will neither be penalized nor privileged. We are very conscious about that.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. In an email to The Atlantic, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, “President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize many times over.”
Trump spent much of 2025 fixated on the honor, going so far as to cold-call Norwegian diplomats and publish screeds on Truth Social bemoaning that, despite all his achievements, he would still not receive the prize.
His fixation eventually led FIFA to present him with its own invented peace prize in December, in an attempt to curry favor ahead of this year’s World Cup. He eventually managed to seize the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the actual winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, in January.
The exchange, which the Nobel Institute attempted to head off by publishing a reminder that Nobel Prizes cannot be shared or transferred, was reportedly Machado’s idea.
Asked by Fox News why she handed over her award, Machado said that Trump deserved it, adding, “It was a very emotional moment. I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
The institute responded to the bizarre exchange with a pointed reminder that holding the medal and diploma did not make Trump a Nobel Prize winner.
“The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” the committee said in a statement released the day after Machado’s visit to the White House. “The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.”
Ultimately, receiving the physical award failed to placate Trump, who just days later issued a shocking threat to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” the 79-year-old wrote in a message to his Norwegian counterpart.
Støre reminded the president that the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Peace Prize, is an independent body, a point he reiterated in his interview with The Atlantic.
“I reminded him every time that it’s not my decision; it’s not the government’s decision. This is an independent committee. It is staunchly independent,” Støre said.
“Some of my diplomats say, you know, ‘If the prime minister would try to interfere with the Nobel committee, he would have to resign, because it would simply be unacceptable.’”
