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

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies 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.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), 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 gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.