Trump's Casual Remarks regarding Khashoggi Killing Represents a New Low.

“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

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

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. Trump has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations 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 declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created 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 acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists 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.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.