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“Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss 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 contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

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, 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 that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president 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 point for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.