Vance Casts Doubt on Pentagon Plan to Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution as Backlash Grows

Vice President JD Vance said Friday he was not convinced the Pentagon will go through with its plan to livestream the Dec. 3 firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, adding that he would not watch the broadcast if it happens — the latest sign of unease inside the administration over a decision that has drawn condemnation from lawmakers in both parties.

“I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance told reporters in Hebron, Kentucky, according to the Associated Press. “If it’s through livestream, I’m not going to be watching it.”

The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to make the execution public. Hegseth told the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice on Oct. 8 that “we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things,” according to USA Today.

President Donald Trump said he “absolutely” approved the livestream plans and did not care how Hasan died as long as he was executed, according to TBS News. Trump approved the execution itself earlier in October at Hegseth’s recommendation, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced on Oct. 5.

Hasan, 56, a former Army major, was sentenced to death in 2013 for the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in which he killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. The Dec. 3 execution by firing squad would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, and the center’s executive director, Robin Maher, told USA Today there is no record of any government ever livestreaming an execution — calling Hegseth’s comments “more aspirational than based in reality.”

Backlash from both parties

The proposal has been denounced by Republicans and Democrats alike. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he supported the death sentence but called a public broadcast “beyond disgusting,” writing that “public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.” Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia wrote that “live-streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that,” while Sen. John Curtis of Utah quoted Seneca’s warning about bloody spectacles and urged Hegseth to reconsider, saying the victims deserve “justice administered with solemnity.”

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for Hegseth’s removal from the cabinet, writing that “a public execution? Here in the United States? It’s the kind of thing Iran and the Taliban do.” The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the plan, and U.N. human rights officials warned that broadcasting the execution could constitute torture, according to The Source.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr declined to weigh in on television distribution of the broadcast, telling CNBC on Oct. 9 that he would defer to Hegseth and that he understood the stream was not on broadcast television.

Legal questions could still delay it

Hasan could still challenge his death sentence in civilian court with a habeas petition, which could delay the execution, according to the Associated Press. Legal experts have also questioned whether a public stream would violate Army Regulation 190-55, which limits who may witness military executions and bars minors from attending.

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today, the Associated Press and The Source.