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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed 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 rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “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 large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created 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 person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.