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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 journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people 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 truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.