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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – 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 denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.