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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably 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 truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist 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 drugged and cut apart – was signed off 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 United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom 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

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter 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 connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), 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 preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press 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 murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created 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 clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

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

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.