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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president 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 the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing 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 ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.