President Donald Trump attacked the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday after it awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, a South African judge and human rights champion, rather than to the U.S. president. Speaking during a campaign rally in Syracuse, New York, Trump said the committee's decision was "disgraceful and embarrassing" and left "an indelible stain on the country of Norway."
Pillay, 85, is a United Nations legal pioneer who led a panel that concluded Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Trump said he had "never heard of" Pillay and stated that "the United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn't." He asserted that he deserved multiple awards, claiming he should have received eight Nobel Peace Prizes for his efforts to end or prevent conflicts in Africa and Asia, as well as between North and South Korea, Japan and North Korea, and China and Taiwan. Trump did not provide evidence to support these claims.
The president said the committee's choice "forever discredited" the Nobel Peace Prize, describing it as selected by "a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization." He concluded by saying, "we will not forget Norway," appearing to signal lasting consequences for the country's decision.
The Nobel Peace Prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma, and a prize sum of $1.2 million. At a public event in Germany on Friday where she learned of her award, Pillay made a lighthearted comment in response to applause: "If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump." This remark appeared to reference Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 and gave her gold medal to Trump.
Experts in Oslo noted before the prize announcement that Trump's war against Iran, his territorial expansion ambitions regarding Greenland, his hardline stance on migrants, and his attacks on multilateralism and the media disqualified him from consideration. Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, defended the selection on Saturday, stating the prize honors those who lead toward a "comprehensive global legal order" but declined to comment directly on Trump's remarks, emphasizing the committee's independence from the Norwegian government.
Trump's criticism came hours after his administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, where Pillay formerly served as a judge. The court condemned the move as "an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order." Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement: "President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans. That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court." The award to Pillay was explicitly described by the prize committee as a gesture of support for international legal institutions at a time when "judges and institutions of international law are under political attack."
Throughout his second term beginning in January 2025, Trump has made clear his ambition to secure a Nobel Peace Prize. This is not the first year he has expressed disappointment at failing to win the award. His allies have argued he deserves the prize for efforts to end the war in Gaza and other conflicts, though the Ukraine war continues to rage without resolution under his administration, and his administration has launched an ongoing war with Iran.
