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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing 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 truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

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

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

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

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement there is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.