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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

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

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – 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 “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

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

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.