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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating 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 government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets 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 White House press pool for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like 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 documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences 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 deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.