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“Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered 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 murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized 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 effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the same as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.