Venezuela’s Machado Presents Trump With a Nobel Prize After All |
Donald Trump on Thursday finally got his greatest wish: to obtain a Nobel Peace Prize.
He didn’t earn it, of course. Last year’s actual recipient, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, told reporters that she “presented” her medal to Trump during a meeting the two had at the White House.
“I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, and I told him this,” she said. “Two hundred years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar since then kept that medal for the rest of his life.… It was given by General Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, people of the United States and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny.
“And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal, in this case the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”
Machado had already dedicated her prize to Trump when she won it last year. And just because she gave it to him does not transfer the title of Nobel laureate to him, as the Nobel Committee clarified over the weekend.
It’s highly likely that Machado’s decision to give her medal to Trump is an attempt to win favor with the new self-declared leader of Venezuela. After directing troops to storm Caracas, nearly two weeks ago, and kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump announced that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez would take over as interim president.
He notably passed over Machado, saying that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader” because she lacked sufficient “respect” in Venezuela. And it appears that Machado’s gamble may not pay off, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said ahead of Thursday’s meeting that he had yet to change his mind.
More than 80 House Democrats have co-signed articles of impeachment for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The bill, introduced by Illinois Representative Robin Kelly, comes amid ratcheting tensions in Minnesota, where ICE agents’ aggressive tactics have led to multiple shootings involving federal officers and widespread protests in Minneapolis.
“Noem’s gestapo-style tactics and reckless leadership have left communities and families devastated,” Kelly wrote in a post on X Thursday.
Dozens of Democrats lent their name in support of the measure, including all four Democratic representatives from Minnesota: Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, and Kelly Morrison.
Omar, a regular target of President Donald Trump, said casting her support behind the measure was a means of seeking justice for Renee Good, the mother of three who was shot and killed by an ICE agent last week.
“Renee Nicole Good should be alive. We’ll continue to fight until we achieve real justice and accountability,” she wrote in a post on X. “That begins with impeaching Kristi Noem and ensuring no federal agent can act as judge, jury, and executioner in our streets.”
Rather than turn down the temperature following Good’s killing, Noem oversaw the deployment of even more immigration officers to Minnesota after the deadly shooting.
Other high-profile Democrats who co-sponsored the impeachment bill included Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Maxwell Frost, Eric Swalwell, and Jasmine Crockett.
“Kristi Noem has been a complete and total failure at her job. She has violated her oath and has allowed ICE agents to terrorize our communities,” Crockett wrote in a post on X.
A new federal lawsuit alleges that former Senator Kyrsten Sinema had an affair with her married bodyguard, Mark Ammel, marked by drug use, countless concerts, international travel, snide comments about colleagues, and more.
Mark Ammel’s ex-wife, Heather Ammel, is seeking $25,000 in damages on the grounds that Sinema and her ex-husband’s affair incited divorce, ending their 14-year marriage. This is possible under North Carolina’s “alienation of affection” law, which allows ex-spouses to sue the third party they allege interfered in their marriage. Only five other states in the nation still have this law on their books.
Heather Ammel’s complaint alleges that Mark and Sinema traveled alone together to Napa Valley in 2023, outside of Ammel’s security detail duties. He then began to join Sinema at other events, like a U2 concert in Las Vegas, a Green Day concert in Washington (where he brought his young child with him), a Taylor Swift concert in Miami, and more.
In 2024, Heather discovered Signal message exchanges between her husband and Sinema that included a photo of Sinema wrapped in a towel, as well as multiple messages that revealed the lack of seriousness in which Sinema held her job.
In those messages, Sinema offered to help Ammel through his........