WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Pentagon will no longer livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, after the announcement faced bipartisan criticism and Vice President J.D. Vance said. he wouldn’t look at it.
Trump said on social media that public broadcast of the execution “could have been a powerful deterrent for the world to witness how America treats terrorists and SCUMs like Hasan.”
But, he continued, “many very good, well-meaning people would prefer not to see him die, on streaming or through any other visual device.”
The Pentagon said Hasan’s execution was scheduled for December 3. Trump said the execution could be viewed in person by the victims’ immediate families, “if they wish.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement earlier this month that Hasan’s execution would be public — and the Pentagon’s subsequent confirmation that it would be broadcast live — sparked significant backlash from Republicans and Democrats, with many pointing out that the footage could be used to fuel radicalization.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said Trump and Hegseth discussed the decision to abandon livestream plans before the president’s social media announcement.
“The secretary of state supports the president’s decision and they are completely aligned,” Parnell said.
When asked how the public execution fit with his Christian faith earlier this month, Vance responded, “I don’t know if it’s actually going to happen.” »
“Regardless of the controversy around the method of execution, I hope people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered many innocent people,” Vance said, adding, “Now, having said that, I mean, look, if it ends up being broadcast live, I’m not going to watch it.”
Vance is Catholic and the Church has long opposed capital punishment. The head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the Trump administration’s decision to livestream Hasan’s execution, with Archbishop Paul S. Coakley saying the move was “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
Other prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed similar sentiments.
For his part, the president defended his decision to approve the use of the firing squad, but distanced himself for days from Hegseth’s announcement that it would be public.
“Well, they’re making a decision on that,” Trump said Friday when asked about the live broadcast. As for Hasan and the method of execution, Trump then said: “He will be killed. He will be killed, by firing squad. I don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think the death penalty is a very valid route for him.”
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building on Nov. 5, 2009, where soldiers were lining up to receive vaccines and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for “God is great!” » – and opened fire with a laser-aimed handgun. He also shot soldiers in the back who were fleeing towards the parking lot.
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 at his trial in 2013. Hasan was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in the back by law enforcement and now uses a wheelchair.
Hasan could request a long postponement of its executionalthough, given his behavior at trial, he may not want to.
The U.S. military has not 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.
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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
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