🔗 Share this article Trump's Casual Remarks on Khashoggi Killing Represents a New Low. “Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing 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 facts. Background Details The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.) The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved 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 condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, 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 the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption. Presidential Comments Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.” Established Conduct This represents a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down. 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 essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad. Broader Implications All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”). It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable 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 more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period. Effect on Society The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. 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 annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.