The President's Dismissal regarding Khashoggi Killing Represents a Disturbing Development.

“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference 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 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring 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 strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists 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 disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. 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.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my message for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.