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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

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

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place 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 entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement there is the identical as my one for the president: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.