Trump's Casual Remarks regarding Journalist's Murder Represents a New Low.

“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’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 found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning 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 regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

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 insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders 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 more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.