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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.