The President's Casual Remarks regarding Khashoggi Killing Represents a Disturbing Development.

“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal 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 concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents 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 honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

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 (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record 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 created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.