Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado had a simple explanation for why she gifted President Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal at the White House Thursday.

“Because he deserves it,” Machado told “Fox & Friends” during an interview that aired Friday morning. “And, um, it was a very emotional moment.”

Machado, 58, added that she had presented Trump, 79, with the medal in a frame “on behalf of the people of Venezuela” following the Jan. 3 arrest of socialist authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro on federal drug and weapons charges in a daring US special forces raid on Caracas.

Trump told reporters Friday afternoon that “she offered it to me. I thought it was very nice.” 

“She said, ‘You know, you’ve ended eight wars, and nobody deserves this prize more in history than you do.’ And I thought it was a very nice gesture. And by the way, I think she’s a very fine woman, and we’ll be talking again.”

Venezuela’s “Iron Lady” — who was awarded the Peace Prize this past October in recognition of her efforts to promote democracy in her home country — heaped praise on Trump for “what he’s doing to liberate Venezuela and for freedom in the Americas.”

“I wanted to share with President Trump my profound trust in the Venezuelan people,” she told Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy of the private lunch meeting, which lasted approximately two and a half hours.

“We are people that love the United States of America, that share values, that admire the strength of your institutions, that want to live with democracy and dignity and justice and freedom.”

“I wanted to convey this to him, and for him to know how much support and hope there is today in Venezuela regarding what he’s doing in our country,” Machado added.

Asked what is next for Venezuela in the wake of Maduro’s arrest, Machado responded: “Freedom.”

“That’s what’s going to come for us. Not only that, but we are going to have a country that will be, I always say, the envy of the world.”

Machado expressed confidence too that she would eventually become the first duly elected female leader of Venezuela.

“I want to serve my country where I am more useful,” she said.

“I do believe that, I mean, there’s a mission, and we are going to turn Venezuela into that land of grace, and I believe I will be elected when the right time comes as president of Venezuela, the first woman president.”

Trump, for his part, has publicly expressed doubt over whether Machado had the ability to immediately lead Venezuela after the capture of Maduro, and has backed interim president Delcy Rodríguez — Maduro’s former underling — to run the country until elections can be held at a future date.

Machado attacked Rodriguez as a “Communist” allied with Russia, China and Iran during a Friday press conference at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. 

“Delcy Rodriguez, yes, she’s a Communist. She’s the main ally and representation of the Russian regime, the Chinese and Iranians. But that’s not the Venezuelan people,” Machado said.

“I am profoundly, profoundly confident that we will have an orderly transition.”

Trump spoke Wednesday with Rodriguez and called her a “terrific person” who “we’ve worked with very well” — as he gained her agreement to ship oil to the US and accept deportation flights.

Although Machado is the most prominent opposition activist from her country, Trump said after the Maduro raid that “she doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within the country” to lead.