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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my message for the president: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.