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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. 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 plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman 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 low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“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 ongoing neglect 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 get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The effect on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists 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.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.