Japanese prime minister Abe was 'acceding to a request' from the White House when he nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize: report

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize at the request of the White House, Japanese government sources told Japan’s Asahi Shimbun.

At a press conference Friday during which he announced a “national emergency” on the U.S. southern border, Trump boasted about Abe’s nomination, telling reporters: “Prime Minister Abe of Japan gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize.”

“He said, ‘I have nominated you…’ or ‘Respectfully, on behalf of Japan, I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize,’” Trump continued. “I said, ‘Thank you.’ Many other people feel that way too. I’ll probably never get it, but that’s okay.”

Lamenting the fact that former U.S. president Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, Trump complained his predecessor “didn’t even know what he got it for.”

“He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize,” Trump claimed. “He said, ‘Oh, what did I get it for?’ With me, I probably will never get it.”

According to Asahi Shimbun, “The U.S. government ‘informally’ asked Tokyo to nominate Trump after he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June,” adding the Japanese prime minster was “acceding to a request from Washington.”