Did the chair of the Nobel committee that chose the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize say that Donald Trump was not chosen because they only "give the award to people of courage and integrity?" No, that's not true: A reporter asked Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes how the campaign by President Trump and his supporters to get the award for him "affected the deliberations and the thinking" of the committee. Frydnes replied that the committee "sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by the @AdamJSchwarz account on X on October 10, 2025. It included a video of the Nobel chair's actual comment, but with an inaccurate transcript that read:
Reporter: Why didn't Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Nobel committee chair: We only give the award to people of courage and integrity.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Adam Schwarz on Twitter
Reporter: Why didn't Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize? Nobel committee chair: We only give the award to people of courage and integrity. https://t.co/MDqOItA9Uu
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
The Nobel Committee announced on October 10, 2025, that the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize would go to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for her "tireless work promoting democratic rights."
President Trump has said he deserved the honor because of his work toward an end to the Ukraine-Russia war, the Israeli-Hamas conflict, and other wars around the world. The nominations for the annual prize ended on January 31, 2025, just one week into Trump's current term as U.S. president. The achievements he and his supporters have cited were after that deadline.
This is the full transcript of the video, with the most relevant sentenced highlighted by Lead Stories:
Reporter: U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he deserves Nobel Peace Prize and he like to have it. He even said that it would be an insult to the United States if he doesn't get it. What does your as a chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee think of this and how has this campaign-like activity by the president and his supporters domestically and internationally affected the deliberations and the thinking in the committee?
Nobel Committee Chair: In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize. I think this committee have seen any type of campaign, media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace. This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So how we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.
