Former Obama appointee questions whether Nobel Peace Prize committee's 2020 decision was partisan

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to The World Food Program and not to the new peace deal between Israel the U.A.E. and Bahrain.

By Brianna Kraemer

Published: October 9, 2020 3:28pm

Updated: October 9, 2020 5:13pm

A former Bush and Obama administration appointee on Friday questioned whether the Nobel Peace Prize Committee's decision to give the 2020 award to the United Nations’ World Food Program was rooted in "partisanship."

“President Trump received a total of two nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize," Hagar Chemali, the former appointee, told "Just the News AM" host Carrie Sheffield.

Hager, now the founder and CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, pointed out that Trump's efforts since elected in 2016 went beyond him recently brokering peace deals between Israel and the U.A.E. and Israel and Bahrain.

She said the economic deals Trump brokered between Serbia and Kosovo are also "a really big deal.”

Hager argued that winning the Noble prize is based on effects and outcomes, not just a peace deal being made.

President Obama won the prize in 2009 after just roughly nine months in office.

“They usually have a pretty high bar for who wins it," Chemali said of the committed. "President Obama himself was surprised to have received that prize, and so was I frankly.”

She also said that if Trump continues peace deals with other countries – including Morocco and Oman – and they have positive effects that he could still be on the path to winning the Peace prize.