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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing 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 occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

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 press. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, 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 refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically 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 murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal 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 accountable for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the same as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.