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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short 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.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded 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, things happen.”

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 truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist 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 the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

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

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for the president: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.