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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude 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 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 American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society 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 exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.