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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services 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 Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse 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, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

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 essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered 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 (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.