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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

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 investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi 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), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.