By Trevor Hunnicutt and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House on Friday criticized the Nobel Prize committee's decision to grant the peace prize to a Venezuelan opposition leader instead of U.S. President Donald Trump, who aggressively lobbied for the award and touted his role in brokering international ceasefire deals.
"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move
mountains with the sheer force of his will," White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a post on X.
"The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee granted the annual award to Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, citing "courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist" authoritarian leadership.
Trump has campaigned for the prize, and just this week announced a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war in Gaza.
The president has not yet commented on the Nobel decision, but he did post three videos on his Truth Social account on Friday morning of supporters celebrating the Gaza deal.
Trump claims to have ended eight wars since taking office and insists he deserves the Nobel, though he said recently he fully expected to be passed over.
"Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They'll give it to some guy that didn't do a damn thing," Trump told top U.S. military leaders last month.
He said it would be a "big insult" to the United States if he didn't get it.
Nominations for the Nobel must have been made before January 31 to be valid for this year's prize. Trump returned to the White House for his second term in office on January 20.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Sharon Singleton; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Ross Colvin and Andrea Ricci)
