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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed 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

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated 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 vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising 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 information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.