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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder 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 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition 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 disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect 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 freedom to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the identical as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.