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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude 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 recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.