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CBS’s Margaret Brennan Chides Machado for Handing Nobel Medal to Trump
Margaret Brennan’s interview with Venezuelan leader María Corina Machado on Face the Nation ended with a familiar point of grievance that the Elitist Media have a hard time letting go of: her giving the Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during her recent White House visit.
Watch as Brennan and Machado discuss the handover of the medal and what it represents:
WATCH: Margaret Brennan ends her interview of Venezuelan leader María Corina Machado by asking why she gave her Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump pic.twitter.com/I4H6d9sllT
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 1, 2026
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, you know, the last time we spoke, you had made this daring covert escape by land, sea and air from Venezuela to go and receive that Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. You've kept those details private, you said, for safety reasons. But you did say you broke your back. You talked about being lost at sea, that you feared that you might lose your life at one point. After all of that, why did you give your Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump, after you'd already dedicated it to him?
MARIA CORINA MACHADO: Look, I think this is a matter of justice, and it's a matter of what's in the superior interest of our country. We, the Venezuelan people, are truly grateful for what he has done, and we're confident in what he will do in the – in the days, weeks and months to come.
BRENNAN: You believe he supports you?
MACHADO: I do, because it is – has – it has to do first and foremost with you, the American people, and how dismantling this criminal structure not only saves millions of Venezuelan lives. It also saves lives in the Americas. And once Venezuela is free, then the Cuban regime will follow. The Nicaraguan regime will follow, even the Iranian regime that has turned Venezuela into its safe haven and satellite only three hours away from Florida.
I mean, this has huge consequence for the Western Hemisphere, for United States. So I think this is a win-win situation for investment, for business opportunity, for security reasons, and certainly for migration tensions and crisis. So, Venezuela will be free, and I know I will host you soon in a wonderful country that is very grateful to yours.
BRENNAN: Maria Corina Machado, thank you very much for your time today. We'll be right back.
The entire interview transpired in this manner, with Brennan trying to drive little wedges between Machado and Trump, and nitpick every aspect of the ongoing transition in Venezuela. In one exchange, Brennan tried to goad Machado into reacting to Trump’s initial assessment of Machado not having access to institutional control, recasting it as a personal slight. Machado refused to take the bait.
BRENNAN: But then the president of the United States stood up there and said to the public that, even though you had won that election, you didn't have the public support. And I wonder if you can understand why they made that calculation.
MACHADO: I will concentrate in what he told me in a private conversation, looking each other in the eyes. And I – and I truly believe he understands the nature of this regime. They all know that Delcy Rodriguez is a communist that no one can trust. Not even, you know, the people surrounding her right now does. I mean these are individuals that have strong ties with Russia, Iran, China, Cuba.
I mean, she is doing what she's doing because United States is putting enough pressure for them to understand that she has no other option. If that – if that pressure were taken away, she would turn around and go back to where loyal – her loyalty is, with these regimes are the enemies of America.
So no one is naive here. I think she's doing part of the dirty job of dismantling her own regime and entourage, but that's a – there's a limit to it for what you said before,. You know, people have to be taken account on – of. They have to be involved.
That is probably how best to sum up the interview: Machado refused to take the bait.
This is not the sort of gauzy, soft-focus interview that is normally given to a Nobel Prize winner. Then again, this is not a normal Nobel Prize winner.
For years, American media treated Latin America as a backwater- never to be covered unless there was a migrant caravan on the way or some weird virus broke out. This is especially true of the Chavista regime in Venezuela, which was ignored by the media, especially through the Obama years when some of the worst and most horrifying abuses occurred.
Machado’s Peace Prize exposed that apathy, and the U.S. raid on January 3rd shattered it into a million pieces. A humiliated media now treats the effort to liberate Venezuela as MAGA-coded.
This is how you end up with a Nobel Peace Prize winner drawing a passive-aggressive soft-adversarial interview by a network’s Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent. For shame.
Click “expand” to view the transcript of the portions of the aforementioned interview that aired on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, February 1st, 2026:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado is in Washington meeting with lawmakers and Trump officials to urge support for another nationwide election. Her party won the last election, but was blocked by Maduro from taking office.
We spoke with Machado and began by asking her whether she thinks the pressure is off the current regime after President Trump said he had no plans for further military action inside the country.
(Begin VT)
MARIA CORINA MACHADO: I do not think that the pressure is being taken away. Actually, everything Delcy Rodriguez is currently doing is because she's complying with instructions she's getting from the United States, and important steps are being taken.
So, I think that the message has been delivered, and, so far, we're seeing the results in the actions taken by the regime and also in the mood and energy that is growing within the Venezuelan population.
BRENNAN: Are you or is anyone in your movement in touch with Delcy Rodriguez, who's the acting president of Venezuela now?
MACHADO: No, not directly.
BRENNAN: No. Why not?
MACHADO: Well, we had offered, since we won the election by a landslide, that we were willing to – to agree in the terms of a negotiated transition. They refused.
On the contrary, they decided to unleash the – the – the most cruel, brutal repression wave. There are – as you know, there have been thousands of political prisoners, and they had not demonstrated any willingness to – to stop this cruelty, until January 3 arrived and – and happened when it happened.
So it sent a clear message to them, and they're starting to realize that things have changed for good. So, eventually, they might understand or – and even very soon, that it is in their best interest to – to accept that the transition is unstoppable.
BRENNAN: A transition that you hope involves a democratic election at some point.
Did Secretary Rubio give you any kind of timeline for the American plans?
MACHADO: What I do have very clear is that the end result is the same, what we want, what the Venezuelan people have voted and struggled and fight for, with huge cost and sacrifice, and what the United States government and President Trump also desires.
BRENNAN: But for the people in Venezuela still living under that regime, what has actually changed for them? And do they have the patience to wait for what you're talking about, which is basically just hoping that the Rodriguez government does what Donald Trump tells them to do?
MACHADO: Well, it's more than hoping.
We're seeing the results, the actions. Are we there yet? Not. And – and I think it's a good point, what you mentioned, patience. How much patience can the Venezuelan people have?
Because, I mean, there were over 1,000 political prisoners on January the 1st. Still, there are over 700. Not one military prisoner, political prisoner has been liberated.
BRENNAN: Well, President Trump has talked a lot about Venezuela's oil and its natural resources. Do you support the law that was just passed that allows the Venezuelan government to privatize the oil industry?
MACHADO: Well, first of all, I do not recognize the National Assembly as a legitimate power.
BRENNAN: Yes.
MACHADO: It has not been recognized by the Venezuelan people, not even by the American, U.S. – by the U.S. government.
BRENNAN: Not legally. But, effectively, they…
MACHADO: It – so – so – yes, but whatever comes from that National Assembly has no legality, so – because this is an illegitimate power.
So, certainly, these so-called reforms introduce positive signs in terms of what we, the Venezuelan people, want in the future. We don't want socialism. We don't want the state owning every single, you know, facility or production center.
We want private property, but that requires rule of law, long-term guarantees for foreign investment, for local investment. But one thing that is the most important of all, in my opinion, you need to have people, talent, specialized, professional, willing to work and develop these enterprises.
What happened with the Venezuelan specialized talent? It was forced to flee the country, almost a third of our population. And these are people that are working all around the count – the world.
BRENNAN: President Trump just said on camera that United States is going to start peeling back some of these sanctions so that Americans can travel back to Venezuela. He's lifted the air restrictions.
MACHADO: Well, I think…
BRENNAN: Is it safe to go?
MACHADO: I think it is important to take steps.
I think these are signals directed to several actors, first and foremost to the regime, saying, this is going to move forward. There is no way back. And – and – and the regime knows that no American citizen or Venezuelan citizen is going to go back to a country that's still under the power of Maduro regime and the cartel.
That's not going to happen. But – but these kinds of actions, I think, give the correct…
BRENNAN: Yes.
MACHADO: … signals, in terms that this is going to move ahead. And I do trust the president in what he has said regarding how much he cares about the Venezuelan people. That's something that I think it was quite significant in our conversation.
BRENNAN: If you return to Venezuela now, would you be imprisoned? And has the American government said that they will protect you, they will guarantee your safety?
MACHADO: Well, you know, things are changing very fast in Venezuela.
If they had captured me before I left, I probably would have been disappeared, or – or worse. Right now, I don't think they would dare to kill me because of the United States' presence and pressure and actions.
I don't know how much possibility of moving I would have inside Venezuela. Certainly, they would be very afraid, because the – the regime knows the connection, the intimate connection we have, you know, the Venezuelan people and – and the leadership that won the election, the legitimate government.
BRENNAN: But you won that election, along with…
MACHADO: Edmundo.
BRENNAN: … Edmundo Gonzalez at the top of that ticket. Even the Trump administration recognized it. Secretary Rubio testified that to Congress.
But then the president of the United States stood up there and said to the public that, even though you had won that election, you didn't have the public support. And I wonder if you can understand why they made that calculation.
MACHADO: I will concentrate in what he told me in a private conversation, looking each other in the eyes.
And I – and I truly believe he understands the nature of this regime. They all know that Delcy Rodriguez is a communist that no one can trust. Not even, you know, the people surrounding her right now does. I mean these are individuals that have strong ties with Russia, Iran, China, Cuba.
I mean, she is doing what she's doing because United States is putting enough pressure for them to understand that she has no other option. If that – if that pressure were taken away, she would turn around and go back to where loyal – her loyalty is, with these regimes are the enemies of America.
So no one is naive here. I think she's doing part of the dirty job of dismantling her own regime and entourage, but that's a – there's a limit to it for what you said before,. You know, people have to be taken account on – of. They have to be involved.
BRENNAN: What role would you want in a future Venezuelan government? Because even President Trump says you may have a role in the future. Would you run for president?
MACHADO: I will be president when the time comes. But it doesn't matter. That should be decided in elections by the Venezuelan people.
I wasn't allowed to run in the last election, as we mentioned before, because Maduro was afraid to running against me. And he thought Edmundo was not a threat, because nobody knew who he was. And in less than three months, we managed to put the whole country supporting him, because this is – this is a matter of freedom.
I mean, this is a spiritual fight, an existential fight for Venezuela. Unlike other diasporas, and I want to stress this, our people around the world, here in the United States, want to go back, go back and live in a country where they're safe, but, most of all, where there is a future in freedom and democracy.
So if we want those hundreds of thousands and millions of Venezuelans to go back, we need to have a secure and precise timeline through which this transition will advance.
BRENNAN: And we don't know when yet…
MACHADO: Not yet.
BRENNAN: … from the Trump administration.
(CROSSTALK)
MACHADO: Not yet.
But I'm sure there is – and the Secretary of State and many other members of the government, by instructions of the president, a clear willingness to move as fast as possible, within, you know, control and order and understanding the complexity of such a criminal structure, but understanding that the voice of the people is what brings legitimacy to this process.
BRENNAN: Before I let you go, you know, the last time we spoke, you had made this daring covert escape by land, sea and air from Venezuela to go and receive that Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. You've kept those details private, you said, for safety reasons. But you did say you broke your back. You talked about being lost at sea, that you feared that you might lose your life at one point. After all of that, why did you give your Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump, after you'd already dedicated it to him?
MACHADO: Look, I think this is a matter of justice, and it's a matter of what's in the superior interest of our country. We, the Venezuelan people, are truly grateful for what he has done, and we're confident in what he will do in the – in the days, weeks and months to come.
BRENNAN: You believe he supports you?
MACHADO: I do, because it is – has – it has to do first and foremost with you, the American people, and how dismantling this criminal structure not only saves millions of Venezuelan lives. It also saves lives in the Americas. And once Venezuela is free, then the Cuban regime will follow. The Nicaraguan regime will follow, even the Iranian regime that has turned Venezuela into its safe haven and satellite only three hours away from Florida.
I mean, this has huge consequence for the Western Hemisphere, for United States. So I think this is a win-win situation for investment, for business opportunity, for security reasons, and certainly for migration tensions and crisis. So, Venezuela will be free, and I know I will host you soon in a wonderful country that is very grateful to yours.
BRENNAN: Maria Corina Machado, thank you very much for your time today. We'll be right back.
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