Trump's Casual Remarks on Khashoggi Killing Signals a Disturbing Development.

“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks 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 smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “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), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: 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 get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.