Trump canceled a livestream of Hasan’s firing squad execution. It remains set for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Pentagon will not livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, reversing a plan announced last week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Trump said Hasan will still be executed by firing squad as scheduled but that the event will not be streamed. He said immediate family members of Hasan’s victims may attend in person if they choose.
Hegseth had said Hasan would face “a firing squad of soldiers” and that people would be able to watch. The plan drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats, with some saying it risked reinforcing Hasan’s stated wish for martyrdom and others saying public airing was contrary to American values. Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch. Trump wrote that a public airing “might have been a strong deterrent,” and a White House official told NBC News he was unaware Hasan is paralyzed, which factored into his decision.
Hasan, 56, a former Army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 in the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. He was sentenced to death in 2013 and lost his final appeal in April 2025. He is held at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood. It would be the first by the U.S. military since 1961 and the first firing squad execution of a service member since World War II. The Pentagon has not explained why it chose a firing squad, since Army regulations specify lethal injection.
This report is based on information from CNBC, NBC News, Fox News, The Hill and Yahoo News.