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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short 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.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the media event “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 media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists 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 attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for the president: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.