Trump warms up to Hillary’s Nobel Prize remark: ‘I may have to start liking her again’

Chatter over a potential Nobel nomination from a former rival — once met with “lock her up” chants — found President Donald Trump suggesting how he may have to respond.

All eyes were on the commander-in-chief on Friday as he left the nation’s capital for Alaska to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace with Ukraine. Having already had a number of such deals thus far in his second administration, Trump found himself facing the possibility of another Nobel Peace Prize nomination, this time from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“That was very nice,” the president told Fox News anchor Bret Baier aboard Air Force One when presented with the twice-failed presidential hopeful’s statement that she might nominate Trump if a preferred deal was brokered between Russia and Ukraine. “Did you see that Hillary Clinton, yesterday, said if you got this deal done and not capitulate to Putin, that she would nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize?”

Trump added, “I may have to start liking her again.”

.@BretBaier: Hillary Clinton says if you can get a peace deal, she’ll nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize…@POTUS: “I may have to start liking her again.” pic.twitter.com/B91ZXJGqfc

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 15, 2025

As had been reported, Clinton appeared on Jessica Tarlov’s “Raging Moderates” podcast where she told the host, “Honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war, if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, could really stand up to Putin — something we haven’t seen, but maybe this is the opportunity — if President Trump were the architect of that, I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.”

In addition to a nomination from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had agreed Trump was due the award as they signed a peace treaty, joining India and Pakistan, the Congo and Rwanda, as well as Thailand and Cambodia in finding stability under the current administration.

Previewing the clip on air ahead of the release of the full interview during “Special Report” on Friday, Baier went on to tell Fox News host Martha MacCallum, “So he’s having a change of heart there … on Jessica Tarlov’s podcast. Let me just say that I asked him a lot about Putin and whether he thought he could trust him, because he’s been down this road before.”

“He’s had phone calls with him in which, at the end of the phone call, there was another missile strike or another drone strike into Kiev, where he sounded optimistic after the phone call,” continued Baier.

Trump himself had said last month during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that first lady Melania Trump was often the one who would point out such instances, as a 50-day deadline had been imposed to reach a peace deal, or Russia would face a 100% tariff.

With the clock running out, Baier went on to recount the conversation with the president, “I asked him about [Putin’s] KGB background, the fact that he’s met with five different presidents 48 different times — Putin has — and he said, ‘Listen, it’s going to be trust but verify. I’m going to know, and we’re going to get to the next step.’”

After the summit with Putin, during Trump’s interview with Sean Hannity, who said, “She tried to ruin your life. In many ways she ruined three years of your life,” the president remarked of Clinton’s impact, “Well, she made me stronger and tougher.”

Trump on Hillary Clinton: “She made me stronger and tougher.” pic.twitter.com/fuT1WO8MSN

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 16, 2025