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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous 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 truth.

The Context

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

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret 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 the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file 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 responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place 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 impact on society is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement there is the identical as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.