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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating 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 evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry 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 convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals 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 tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

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

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my message for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.