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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’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 CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing 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 ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. He has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

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

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable 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.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. The statement there is the identical as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.