Trump dismissed Pillay as “a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of,” saying he himself had “never heard of the person”.
Speaking at a Republican campaign rally in Syracuse, New York, ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Trump said: “Today they gave out the Nobel Peace Prize to a person I never heard of. The person nobody did. It’s a mystery person,” before adding: “But congratulations anyway.”
He then repeated his claim that he had “settled eight wars,” citing the conflict between India and Pakistan as an example and arguing that his claimed achievements should have earned him the peace prize.
“Any one of these eight wars, you get the Nobel Prize. I did eight. No president’s ever done any,” he said.
Trump subsequently directed his anger at the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and Norway, the country where the committee is based, arguing that the United States had been unfairly denied the award.
“The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t. And this is an indelible stain on the country of Norway,” he said.
He went on to accuse the committee of discrediting the award, declaring it had been “forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization.”
“We will not forget Norway,” Trump said, adding that the decision was “just another sign of how Norway and all these others are ripping off our country.”
In a subsequent post on his Truth Social platform, Trump again attacked Pillay and questioned her public profile, while claiming that her position on Israel was the reason for the award.
“I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else! In fact, to the best of my knowledge, no one ever heard of her other than the fact that she, very obviously, hates Israel.”
Repeating his claim that he deserved the prize, Trump wrote: “The Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of Radical Ideologues who are Anti-Democracy, and Enemies of Civilization!”
Trump has repeatedly argued that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and criticized the fact that he has not received it.
Meanwhile, Pillay’s award recognizes her decades-long work in international justice, including her efforts to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
She served as a judge and president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, as a judge at the International Criminal Court, and as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights from 2008 to 2014.
Pillay also chaired a UN inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 2021 to 2025.
The commission concluded that the Israeli regime had committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, a finding Israel rejected.
The Nobel Committee said Pillay had played a central role in efforts to hold perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide accountable, emphasizing that her work had expanded the impact of international law.