Trump Calls Off Livestream of Nidal Hasan’s Firing-Squad Execution

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will not be livestreamed, reversing a Pentagon plan announced last week that had drawn bipartisan backlash.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”

Trump said the immediate families of the victims would be able to watch the execution in person, if they choose.

The execution, scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood in Texas, will be the Army’s first execution of a soldier since World War II and the first death sentence carried out on a service member in 65 years, according to CNN.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, the largest mass murder at a U.S. military installation, according to USA Today.

Hegseth had announced the broadcast

The reversal ends a week of controversy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that the execution would be broadcast, saying the public should be able to watch because “people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” according to the New York Post.

Trump did not know about the announcement beforehand, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN, and he did not know at first that Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down. Officials told CNN the president is firmly behind the execution itself, which he approved after Hegseth recommended death by firing squad.

Opposition to a broadcast was broad. An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released Thursday found 80% of U.S. adults, including 64% of Republicans, said the execution should not be livestreamed. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not watch, and Vice President JD Vance also said he would not watch and doubted the Pentagon would go through with the plan, according to USA Today.

The family of victim Michael Cahill opposed the broadcast as well. His daughter Keely Cahill Vanacker told The Times it would turn “tragedy into entertainment.”

Reporting based on coverage by CNN, USA Today, Reuters, the New York Post and The Times.