By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that the execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter, Nidal Hasan, will not be livestreamed, after the Pentagon announced that the event would be available to the public.
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that Hasan, formerly a U.S. Army major, killed 13 people and injured 32 more in the 2009 mass shooting at the Texas military base.
“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 but, many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” the president wrote Wednesday.
Confirming that Hasan will still be executed via firing squad, Trump added that it won’t be streamed to the public.
“That said, the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!” the president added.
Earlier this month, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Hasan’s execution would be carried out on Dec. 3 in public, while the Pentagon later confirmed that it would be live-streamed.
Asked last week about the execution, Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn’t be watching it and added that he doesn’t know if it will 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, if it’s through livestream, I’m not going to be watching it.”
When asked about the execution of Hasan by firing squad, Trump said he approved the decision but appeared to be noncommittal about it being livestreamed to the public.
“Well, they’re making a determination about that,” Trump said on Oct. 9 when asked about the livestream.
After a reporter asked him about the method of execution, he responded by saying that Hasan “will be killed … through firing squad.” He added later that he doesn’t really “care how he goes,” and “the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.”
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building in November 2009, where soldiers were waiting to receive immunizations and medical clearance for deployment.
He shouted “Allahu akbar” before he opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. He also shot at the backs of soldiers fleeing toward the parking lot.
During a 2013 military court-martial proceeding, Hasan said he was the shooter and described himself as a jihadist.
A jury found him guilty on 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. The jury recommended that he be sentenced to death. Since then he has remained on the military’s death row in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
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.
In an interview with Real America’s Voice this month, Hegseth told host Jack Posobiec that Hasan would be executed via firing squad and that “we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
