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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine 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 approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (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 eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

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

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.