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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies determined 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, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry 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 convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on record for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.