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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

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 press. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” 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 media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

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 murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists 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.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual global journalism honors. The statement there is the same as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.