Trump's Dismissal regarding Journalist's Murder Represents a New Low.

“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward 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 press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, he 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 disliked that gentleman 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 no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. Trump has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection 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 lose their licenses.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

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 murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.