Trump's Casual Remarks on Khashoggi Killing Signals a New Low.

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – 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 American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

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 the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts 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 official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.