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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

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

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. Trump has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated 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 media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold 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 persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers 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 exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly 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.