honored

Jan. 16 (UPI) — Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Corina Machado is the only recognized recipient of the award despite the Venezuelan leader giving her medal to President Donald Trump this week, the Nobel Committee said Friday.

Nobel Prize-winning laureates receive a gold medal and a diploma affirming their status, and nothing changes it, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a news release on Friday.

“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the committee said.

“Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The White House posted a photo on social media showing the president accepting the medal from Machado, which is framed and contains documentation marking the moment.

The committee said a laureate “cannot share the prize with others nor transfer it once it has been announced.”

The prize is irrevocable, and the “decision is final and applies for all time,” the committee added.

While the prize cannot be transferred, there are no rules on what recipients can do with the prize, certificate or prize money.

They can keep them, give them away, sell them or donate them to others if they wish to do so.

Machado on Friday told an interviewer for Fox and Friends that Trump “deserves it” and said it was a very emotional moment when she gave him the medal, NBC News reported.

“I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela,” Machado said.

Machado earlier praised Trump for ordering the U.S. military to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and bring them to the United States to face federal charges for alleged drug trafficking and related offenses.