Trump Questions Livestream Of Nidal Hasan’s Execution Amid Bipartisan Outrage

US President Donald Trump has cast doubt on whether the December 3 execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, will be livestreamed, as the Pentagon’s proposal faces condemnation from lawmakers, human rights groups and religious leaders.

“They are making a determination about that, but he will be killed,” Trump said on Friday. “I really don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes.” Trump approved Hasan’s execution by firing squad, but left the decision to broadcast it publicly unresolved.

The Pentagon had confirmed on Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the public should be able to watch because people needed to understand the consequences of such crimes. The execution is scheduled for 1 pm local time on December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where Hasan carried out the attack.

Vice President JD Vance also questioned whether the broadcast would happen, saying he would not watch it if it did. He stressed that the controversy over the execution method should not overshadow Hasan’s crimes.

Opposition has crossed party lines. Republican Representative Austin Scott and Senator Thom Tillis backed Hasan’s death sentence but condemned the livestream proposal. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly said Hasan should face justice but questioned whether the United States should associate itself with public executions practised in countries such as Iran and Afghanistan. Critics have also warned that the broadcast could endanger US personnel overseas.

The UN human rights chief said livestreaming an execution would amount to a public execution and breach the absolute prohibition on torture. Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the proposal a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death”. Amnesty International said broadcasting the execution would compound the cruelty of capital punishment.

Questions also remain about distribution. YouTube, Meta and X have not clarified whether they would carry the footage. TikTok pointed to its policy prohibiting graphic violence, including footage of someone being shot. Meta’s rules explicitly prohibit livestreams of capital punishment, according to CBS News.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. Twelve victims killed and 30 wounded were soldiers. Hasan was left paralysed from the waist down after a responding police officer shot him.

The planned execution would be the first US military firing squad execution since 1945. The last US military execution occurred in 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged.