WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the military will not broadcast the upcoming firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, halting a contentious plan first rolled out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during a November 2009 shooting spree at the Texas military post, remains scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3. Immediate family members of the victims will be permitted to witness the execution in person, Trump said.
“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “But, many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.”
Bipartisan Backlash to Broadcast Plans
Hegseth sparked widespread criticism across the political spectrum last week after proposing that Hasan face a firing squad on camera, arguing that a public broadcast would show that “there are serious consequences for these types of things.”
Opposition mounted rapidly among lawmakers, military figures and religious groups. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told CBS News earlier in the week that broadcasting the death could hand extremist organizations a powerful recruiting tool. Vice President JD Vance similarly distanced himself from the proposal, telling reporters he would not watch the broadcast if it occurred.
Other Republican lawmakers openly condemned the spectacle. Sen. John Curtis of Utah warned that society erodes when capital punishment becomes public entertainment, while Rep. Rob Bresnahan stressed that victims’ families deserve dignity rather than a televised production, according to Radar Online. An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos survey released Thursday showed that 80 percent of Americans opposed broadcasting the execution.
Behind the White House Reversal
The proposed broadcast caught senior White House and military leaders off guard, NBC News reported. According to a U.S. official cited by the network, the livestream was entirely Hegseth’s concept. While Trump initially expressed interest, he reconsidered as details emerged. Trump had not known that Hasan was paralyzed from the chest down from injuries sustained during the 2009 attack, a detail that heavily influenced his decision to drop the livestream, a White House official told NBC News.
Hegseth’s push for a firing squad at Fort Hood also disrupted months of existing military preparations, NBC News reported. Army officials had previously spent months planning to execute Hasan by lethal injection at the federal correctional complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, before later considering Fort Leavenworth once firing squad discussions began.
In his social media statement, Trump also criticized former President Barack Obama’s administration, arguing that federal investigators committed a major intelligence blunder by failing to act on intercepted communications between Hasan and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the massacre.
What Happens Next
Hasan is set to become the first military prisoner executed by the U.S. government in more than six decades. The American armed forces last carried out a capital sentence in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged following a rape and attempted murder conviction. The military last utilized a firing squad in 1945 to execute Pvt. Eddie Slovik for desertion during World War II.
Unless federal courts intervene, Hasan’s execution will proceed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3 behind closed doors, observed only by authorized officials and victims’ relatives.
