Trump, after bipartisan backlash, says execution of Ft. Hood shooter won’t be livestreamed
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- President Trump reversed course Thursday, saying the Pentagon will not livestream Nidal Malik Hasan’s Dec. 3 execution by firing squad after bipartisan criticism of the plan.
- Trump said immediate family members of victims may attend; critics warned that broadcasting the execution could fuel radicalization, and Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch.
- Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at Ft. Hood in Texas in 2009, killing soldiers waiting for deployment-related medical checks.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday that the Pentagon will not livestream the firing squad execution of Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, after the announcement faced bipartisan criticism and Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn’t watch it.
Trump said on social media that publicly airing the execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan.”
But, he continued, “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.”
The Pentagon has said Hasan’s execution is scheduled for Dec. 3. Trump said the execution can be viewed in person by immediate families of the victims “if they so choose.”
Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to the conservative TV outlet Real America’s Voice News on Wednesday, said the execution of Hasan will take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement this month that Hasan’s execution would be public — and subsequent confirmation from the Pentagon that it would be livestreamed — prompted significant blowback from both Republicans and Democrats, with many pointing out that the images could be used to fuel radicalization.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said Trump and Hegseth discussed the decision to drop the livestream plans before the president’s announcement on social media.
“The Secretary supports the President’s decision, and they are completely aligned,” Parnell said.
When asked this month how the public execution comported with his Christian faith, Vance said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen.”
“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance said, adding: “Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.”
Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch a livestream of the execution, and expressed doubt that is ‘actually going to happen.’
Vance is Catholic, and the church has long opposed capital punishment. The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had condemned the Trump administration’s decision to livestream Hasan’s execution, with Archbishop Paul S. Coakley saying the move was a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
Other top Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), voiced similar sentiments.
For his part, the president has defended his decision to approve the use of a firing squad, but had for days distanced himself from Hegseth’s announcement that it would be public.
“Well, they’re making a determination about that,” Trump said Friday when asked about the livestream. As for Hasan and the method of execution, Trump said then: “He will be killed. He will be, through firing squad. I really don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.”
FT. HOOD, Texas -- A military jury has sentenced Maj.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building at the Texas military installation on Nov. 5, 2009, where soldiers were waiting in long lines to receive immunizations and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted “Allahu akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. He also shot at the backs of soldiers fleeing toward the parking lot.
Hasan said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims. A military judge barred him from presenting that as a defense during his 2013 trial. Hasan was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in the back by law enforcement and now uses a wheelchair.
He could seek a lengthy delay of his execution, though given his behavior at trial, he may not want to.
The U.S. military hasn’t executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.
Kim writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
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