“There are some in our country who were saying that it was really a commercial interest, should override our values and how we speak out and act upon those values,” Pelosi told a standing-room-only crowd inside a Capitol reception room. She added, “If we decide that commercial interest should override the statements that we make and the actions that we take, then we must admit that we have lost all moral authority to talk about any atrocity.”

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Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), a former undercover intelligence officer, recalled how he learned to appreciate journalistic risk-taking when he would arrive in international hot spots only to discover reporters already there “sipping tea or having a beer.”

Hurd said the killing, which the Saudi government eventually acknowledged under international pressure, sparked a conversation even in the parts of southwest Texas that he represents.

“A lot of people have come up to me and said, why is this important? It’s causing a lot of people to remember why our press is so important,” he said.

Fred Ryan, publisher of The Washington Post, noted that dozens of other journalists were murdered last year and that thousands more were imprisoned or faced other attacks on their freedom. He called on the bipartisan gathering of congressional leaders to keep pushing the cause of journalistic freedom and to hold the administration accountable.