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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. 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 history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction 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 didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media 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 targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.