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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss 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 facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services 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 Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), 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 large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

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 the public is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

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