Trump's Casual Remarks regarding Khashoggi Killing Represents a Disturbing Development.

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism 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 kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations 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 terminology of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder 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 media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.