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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – 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 press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded 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 US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off 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 criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined 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, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a new and abject low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” 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 vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.