Trump Claims Nobel Peace Prize Winner Told Him He 'Really Deserved It'

<div><img src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/68e9d9df150000c576269f6e.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" alt="Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House." data-caption="Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House." data-credit-link-back="" data-credit="via Associated Press" />Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House.</div><div class="content-list-component text"><p><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump/">Donald Trump </a>has claimed the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize told him he “really deserved it”.</p><p>Supporters of the US president reacted angrily after the Nobel committee <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/hes-gonna-have-a-meltdown-internet-reacts-after-donald-trump-snubbed-for-nobel-peace-prize_uk_68e8d1b0e4b0e374c3a77442">gave the award</a> to Venezuelan democracy campaigner María Corina Machado.</p><p>White House director of communications Steven Cheung said they had “placed politics over peace”.</p><p>Trump has mounted a less-than-subtle campaign to receive the award.</p><p>Reacting to the decision on Friday, Trump claimed to have ended “a total of eight” wars since being re-elected president, including the Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas.</p><p>He added: “The person who actually got the Nobel prize called me and said ‘I’m accepting this in honour of you because you really deserved it.’ A very nice thing to do.</p><p>“I didn’t say ‘then give it to me’ though. I think she might have, she was very nice. I’ve been helping her along the way, they need a lot of help in Venezuela, it’s a basic disaster.”</p><p>However, Machado’s public reaction to winning the award appeared to contradict Trump’s claims.</p><p>Although she paid tribute