🔗 Share this article The President's Dismissal on Khashoggi Killing Represents a New Low. “Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the facts. The Context The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.) The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions. Global Reactions For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained 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. White House Remarks Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s 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 didn’t like him, things happen.” Pattern of Behavior This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses. He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad. Wider Consequences All of that has created an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”). It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the past two years. Effect on Society The effect on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and securely. On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.