President Trump on Thursday shrugged off a question about his chances of winning a Nobel Peace Prize ahead of Friday's announcement of the winner as he touted his efforts to broker ceasefire and peace agreements in various conflicts.
"I know this, that nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months. And I’ve stopped eight wars. So that’s never happened before," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Finland.
"They’ll have to do what they do," he said of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. "Whatever they do is fine. I know this, I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives."
The Nobel committee said there are a total of 338 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. The winner will be announced on Friday, days after Trump announced his administration had helped broker an agreement that would see hostages released by Hamas and an end to fighting in Gaza.
Trump has in the past been publicly critical of the Nobel committee, particularly for awarding the peace prize to former President Obama.
He has pointed to his role in pausing conflicts between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia and Armenia and Azerbaijan as examples of his peacemaking efforts.
Trump said late last month that being passed over for the award this year would be “an insult to our country."
Finnish President Alexander Stubb was asked whether Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in the wake of a nascent peace agreement in the Middle East.
"That’s probably a decision that comes from the Nobel committee," Stubb said.
Source: The Hill - News
