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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader 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 country’s own intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.