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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had ordered 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 conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince 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 rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist 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 the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. 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 global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.