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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for the media – 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 press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence 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 Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people 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 fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), 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), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home 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 victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.