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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, 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 crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents 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 Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. Trump has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, 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 refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has created 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 clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The effect on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the same as my one for the president: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.