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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably 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 the media – 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 leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. 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 condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, 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.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – 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, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, 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 US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

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

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.