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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building 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, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince 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.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” 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 frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise 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 documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.