🔗 Share this article Trump's Dismissal regarding Khashoggi Killing Represents a Disturbing Development. “Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter 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 truth. The Context The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.) The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions. International Response For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed 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 Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.” Pattern of Behavior This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses. He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining 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 atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”). It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created 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 over two hundred journalists in the past two years. Societal Impact The effect on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely. On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message 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.