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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 sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated 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 homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, 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 Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics 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 the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that person 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 press. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection 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 news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

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

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.