U.S. President Donald Trump lamented about getting snubbed for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize during a private event for wealthy business executives at the White House on Wednesday evening.
The White House slammed the Norwegian Nobel Committee for putting “politics over peace” after giving the award to Venezuelan opposition activist and democracy campaigner María Corina Machado. It comes as Venezuela faces threats of invasion and foreign regime change by the U.S. over alleged drug trafficking crimes. Within the U.S., the Trump administration has also targeted alleged members of the Venezuelan cartel Tren de Aragua. Several came out and spoke out against the move including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who praised Trump’s efforts.
“I stopped 8 wars in 8 months. I saved hundreds of millions of lives,” Trump told the room of wealthy executives. “Did I get a Nobel Peace Prize? No.”
The eight wars he claims to have stopped span across both of his terms, including most recently the Gaza ceasefire.
It also includes clashes during his first term, thus far, in Israel and Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, India and Pakistan, and Cambodia and Thailand. Additionally, during his first term, he claims to have halted violence between Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.
Trump has embarked on making a slew of controversial construction and decor changes to the White House, which insiders have suggested that the real estate mogul views as part of his presidential legacy. He similarly held a dinner at the White House Rose Garden for wealthy elite following $200 million construction to the grounds made over the summer.
Among the wealthy business people present were tech and finance executives such as Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman, Continental Resources Inc.’s Harold Hamm crypto billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Also present were representatives from major corporations such as Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon.com, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Palantir Technologies Inc., a White House official said.
Political analysts have expressed concern that the involvement of private donors raises concerns about conflict of interest as business owners seek to cozy up to the president amid his trade tariff wars, among other policy agendas.
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Trump issued an executive order in late August to “Make Federal Architecture Beautiful Again” and announced the creation of a ballroom on the White House grounds in July.
The “much-needed” ballroom will be a 90,000-square-foot event room space that can hold 650 people, over double the amount that the East Room can currently hold, which is 200 people.
The $200 million construction project, he said, will be paid for by himself and his wealthy donors. He hired Clark Construction Group LLC to lead the ballroom project, among others, including the renovation of the Kennedy Centre. McCrey Architects and AECOM engineers will also be involved in the ballroom project.
Construction for the ballroom project began in September and comes after major renovations to the White House Rose Garden, which has been transformed into a patio space primarily for media events.
“President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail,” said White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in the announcement.
“The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organisations to preserve the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come.”
Trump has vowed that the ballroom construction “won’t interfere with the current building” and will pay “total respect” to the original architectural style.