{"id":631799,"date":"2026-10-15T22:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631799\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T22:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:14:13","slug":"trump-says-pentagon-wont-livestream-execution-of-fort-hood-shooter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631799\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Pentagon won’t livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump said that the Pentagon will no longer livestream the firing squad execution<\/a> of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, after the announcement faced bipartisan criticism and Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn\u2019t watch it.<\/p>\n

Trump said on social media that publicly airing the execution \u201cmight have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan”.<\/p>\n

But, he continued, \u201cmany very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device”.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has said Hasan\u2019s execution is scheduled for Dec. 3. Trump said the execution can be viewed in person by immediate families of the victims, \u201cif they so choose”.<\/p>\n

The announcement earlier this month from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Hasan\u2019s execution would be public \u2014 and subsequent confirmation from the Pentagon that it would be livestreamed \u2014 prompted significant blowback<\/a> from both Republicans and Democrats, with many pointing out that the images could be used to fuel radicalisation.<\/p>\n

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said Trump and Hegseth discussed the decision to drop the livestream plans before the president’s announcement on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secretary supports the President\u2019s decision, and they are completely aligned,\u201d Parnell said.<\/p>\n

When asked how the public execution comported with his Christian faith earlier this month, Vance said \u201cI don\u2019t know that that\u2019s actually going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don\u2019t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,\u201d Vance said, adding: \u201cNow, that said, I mean, look, if it\u2019s ultimately livestreamed, I\u2019m not going to be watching it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump speaks upon arrival at the White House on October 8, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Vance is Catholic, and the church has long opposed capital punishment. The head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops had condemned the Trump administration\u2019s decision to livestream Hasan\u2019s execution, with Archbishop Paul S. Coakley saying the move was a \u201cbarbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other top Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voiced similar sentiments.<\/p>\n

For his part, the president has defended his decision to approve the use of a firing squad, but had for days distanced himself from Hegseth’s announcement that it would be public.<\/p>\n

“Well, they\u2019re making a determination about that,\u201d Trump said Friday when asked about the livestream. As for Hasan and the method of execution, Trump said then: \u201cHe will be killed. He will be, through firing squad. I really don\u2019t care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building on Nov. 5, 2009, where soldiers were waiting in long lines to receive immunisations and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted \u201cAllahu akbar\u201d \u2014 Arabic for \u201cGod is great!\u201d \u2014 and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. He also shot at the backs of soldiers fleeing toward the parking lot.<\/p>\n

Hasan said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims. A military judge barred him from presenting that as a defense during his 2013 trial. Hasan was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot in the back by law enforcement and now uses a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

Hasan could seek a lengthy delay of his execution, though given his behavior at trial, he may not want to.<\/p>\n

The US military hasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Harry and Meghan are back, and a skateboarding world record. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump said that the Pentagon will no longer livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,65,42,43,64,31451,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-631799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-terrorism","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}