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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

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 crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

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

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society 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, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.