President Donald Trump claimed Friday that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to broker peace between North and South Korea.
Trump said Abe showed the president “the most beautiful five-page letter” that he sent to the Norwegian committee that awards the prestigious diplomatic prize each year.
“He had rocket ships, and he had missiles flying over Japan, and they had alarms going off, you know that,” Trump said of Abe, speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday. “Now all of a sudden, they feel good. They feel safe. I did that.”
The Japanese embassy in Washington did not immediately return an email seeking confirmation that Abe had, in fact, submitted Trump’s name for the peace prize.
Trump said he would “probably would never get” the prize, but that he had thanked the Japanese prime minster.
“But that’s okay,” Trump added. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for.”