Nidal Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others during the November 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, is shown in an undated Bell County Sheriff’s Office photo.
Bell County Sheriff’s Office | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Pentagon will not livestream the planned firing squad execution of Fort Hood mass murderer Nidal Hassan, as previously planned.
President Trump’s announcement comes after a plan to broadcast the execution of a former Army major live online sparked a backlash over concerns that the footage could be used as a recruiting tool for terrorists.
Hasan, who is paralyzed from the waist down, is scheduled to be executed at 1pm Central Time on December 3 at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.
At his 2013 court-martial, Hasan said his motive was to protect “the leaders of the Afghan Islamic Emirate Taliban,” and a new legal challenge could seek to delay the execution.
“Nidal Malik Hassan, a former U.S. Army major turned traitor, is a very evil and evil man,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The president pointed out that Hassan killed 13 people (one of whom was pregnant) and injured 32 others in a mass shooting on November 5, 2009.
“That being said, I think making the execution available for everyone to watch on streaming could have been a powerful deterrent for the world to witness how the United States deals with terrorists and scum like Hassan. But many very good and well-meaning people would not want to watch his death via streaming or other video equipment,” President Trump wrote.
“He will die by firing squad as scheduled, but this event will not be streamed.”
“Next of kin of victims, however, can watch the execution in person if they wish,” Trump wrote. “They deserve to witness justice!”
Hours before Trump’s announcement, a Washington Post, ABC News, and Ipsos poll was released that found 80% of Americans said executions should not be live-streamed, while only 18% supported the idea.
The poll of 2,545 American adults found that about 52% of Americans supported executing Hasan, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Catholic Military Archdiocese, said in a statement Monday that Catholics assigned to firing squads should “request exemption from this action, which is contrary to the teachings of the Church.”
The Pentagon announced on October 5 that President Trump had approved Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recommendation that Hassan, 56, be executed by firing squad.
Presidential approval is required to carry out military executions under the Uniform Act of Military Justice.
Mr. Hasan became the first U.S. military member to be executed by firing squad after World War II.
Hegseth said on Oct. 8 that the execution will take place at Fort Hood, and that “obviously he’s going to have a firing squad of soldiers.”
“And we’re going to make sure that people can watch it and we’re going to make sure that it’s out there because people need to understand that… there are serious consequences to this kind of thing,” Hegseth said.
The Pentagon later announced it would be livestreamed.
Until President Trump announced Thursday that there would be no live streaming, it was unclear which major video streaming platforms would exist and which ones would broadcast the execution.
The Verge reported last week. YouTubeTwitch, meta and × TikTok did not respond to a question about whether it would allow executions on its site, but pointed to its policy of banning “shocking and graphic content.”
Vice President J.D. Vance last week questioned whether the livestream would “actually happen,” saying he wouldn’t watch it if it did.
“So I hope that whatever the controversy over the method of execution, people don’t forget that this is a man who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance said. “That said, even if it ends up being livestreamed, I have no intention of watching it.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (RN.C.) said in a post on X last week that the idea of livestreaming executions is “beyond disgusting.”
“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” Tillis tweeted. “That shouldn’t happen in America.”
Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot seven times by Hasan, a former army sergeant, said he planned to attend the execution in person but spoke livestreamed to protest the execution.
“I want to be in a room where he can see me and he can see me,” Lunsford said last week, according to CBS News. “People have to take responsibility for their sins, but we don’t want this to be a pay-per-view event like a John Wick movie.”
“As a country, we are better than that.”
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned the plan to make the execution public.
“Our God is a God of life. Hassan’s actions will never be tolerated, but this decision is a barbaric act that promotes a culture of death and must be reconsidered. God’s word urges us: ‘Repay evil for evil to no one,'” Coakley said, quoting St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.
“Public executions, even of people who have caused serious harm, only further undermine the moral fabric of our country and offend the conscience of our people,” Coakley said.
Hasan’s execution will be the first carried out by the US military since 1961. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the rape and attempted murder of a young girl in Austria.
CNBC has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment on President Trump’s post.
Nidal’s cousin, Nader Hassan, who spoke out after the Fort Hood shooting, did not respond to a request for comment.
