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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 murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. Trump has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), 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 media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The effect on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.