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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, 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 denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. 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 new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

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 killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.