House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced a global effort to nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize as phase one of the recent Middle East peace agreement goes into effect.
‘I’m proud to tell you that together with my friend, Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, the equivalent of our Congress, we’re going to embark upon a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J. Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize,’ Johnson said Tuesday. ‘No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact.’
He made the announcement during his daily government shutdown news conference on the 14th day of the ongoing fiscal standoff between Democrats and Republicans.
Johnson opened the press conference praising Trump for helping strike the deal that is aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas.
‘There will be more to share on this in the weeks ahead, but today marks the start of this effort that we’ll embark upon together, this joint parliamentary project,’ he said.
‘And I’m honored to do it alongside our ally and my counterpart in Israel in leading that effort.’
Trump was in Egypt on Monday for the signing of the historic peace deal alongside other world leaders from Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Both Israel and Hamas also began taking the first steps of the peace process by releasing people held by their respective sides. All 20 living Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas were released, while Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners it held within its own borders.
Trump has received praise from both sides of the aisle for his role in the U.S.-brokered agreement.
‘I thought it was remarkable. I saw a video last night of one of the released hostages who made the point that as soon as the election was held in November in the United States, Hamas began to treat him and his fellow hostages much better,’ Johnson said.
‘They fed them better. They respected them more. They changed the tone of how they treated them. They no longer spit upon them. As he said in his own words, elections have consequences.’