President Trump spent Friday night and Saturday morning venting about the Nobel committee's decision to award this year's Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, calling the choice an "indelible stain on Norway" and insisting he deserved the honor instead.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee named Pillay, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and ex-International Criminal Court judge, the 2026 laureate on Friday for her decades of work on international law and accountability, as Axios reported. Trump did not congratulate her. Instead, he reposted a message on Truth Social from another user describing the committee as having "shamed itself beyond repair" and calling Pillay "an unabashed hater of America and Israel," according to Euronews.

Later Friday night, after a campaign rally, Trump escalated further, repeating his long-running claim that he has "settled eight wars" and writing that the prize had gone to "a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of," per The Hill.

NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD OF HER

Pillay, for her part, appeared to brush off the attacks. Addressing a cheering crowd after the announcement, she joked, "If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump," drawing laughter, Euronews reported.

A Familiar Pattern

This is the second consecutive year Trump has publicly stewed over losing the Peace Prize. He reacted similarly after María Corina Machado won in 2025, at one point thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin on Truth Social after Putin criticized the committee on his behalf. Reports from earlier this year described Trump as having spent much of 2025 fixated on the award, including placing calls to Norwegian diplomats.

Pillay's selection carries added edge inside the administration because of her ICC ties: the court has drawn repeated fire from the White House over its investigations tied to Israel, and the State Department has sanctioned multiple ICC judges and prosecutors in recent years over the court's handling of cases involving U.S. and Israeli personnel. The department had not issued a formal response to Friday's announcement as of Saturday morning.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has not responded directly to Trump's latest remarks. In past exchanges over the prize, Norwegian officials have said the committee operates independently of the government and that the medal, once awarded, cannot be reassigned.

Pillay is scheduled to formally receive the prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. The White House has not said whether it will send an official representative.