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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most infamous 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.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed 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.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals disliked 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 fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

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

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. The statement there is the identical as my message for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.