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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. 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.