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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 infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince 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.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined four years ago. 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, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (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 disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers 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 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.