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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

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