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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing 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 prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing 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 disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. 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 exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.