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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the same as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.