President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Nidal Hasan’s execution by firing squad “will not be streamed” — reversing the controversial announcement by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the killing would be publicly broadcast.
Trump said that Hasan’s execution will still take place as scheduled “by firing squad” — even though it will not be livestreamed.
The Pentagon had maintained earlier this week that the livestream was moving forward. But in a new statement to ABC News, Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said that Hegseth and Trump are now “completely aligned.”
“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth spoke about the decision to not livestream Hasan’s execution ahead of the Truth Social announcement. The Secretary supports the President’s decision, and they are completely aligned,” Parnell wrote.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding another 32 in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan, who described the attack as an act of jihad, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3 at the same base where he committed the attack.
“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” Trump wrote in a social media post Thursday morning. “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”
Trump added that the execution can be viewed in person by the families of victims if they choose.
John Galligan, who has represented Hasan for years as his civilian attorney, said the cancellation of the livestream came “as no surprise.” Galligan still criticized what he views as the administration’s broader mishandling of the execution, adding that Hegseth made a “dumb decision” to “livestream any execution” since it “violated the Army’s own regulation.”
Public executions were once common in the U.S., but states began restricting and abolishing the practice in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries. The last widely recognized public execution was carried out in Kentucky in 1936.
Last week, Hegseth vowed to make the execution public and confirmed it would be livestreamed. But Trump and his advisers earlier this week were mulling whether to no longer livestream Hasan’s execution, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News, amid a hesitancy over whether broadcasting the execution could super charge anti-American propaganda or reflect poorly on the U.S.
Vice President JD Vance said last week that he wasn’t sure whether there would be a livestream, adding that he wouldn’t watch it if there were.
Many lawmakers — including several Republicans — spoke out against the livestream. Outgoing Republican Sen. Thom Tillis condemned the livestream plan last week saying that, “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”
Eight in 10 Americans say that Hasan’s execution should not be livestreamed, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel out Thursday morning.
Reaction from Fort Hood shooting survivors
Alonzo Lunsford, a sergeant who had served in the Army since 1990, was among those injured in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. Hasan shot him seven times — including in the head and in the stomach.
Lunsford said that receiving the news that the Pentagon would not livestream Hasan’s execution was “a sigh of relief,” calling the administration’s reversal a “very smart choice.”
“We show that we’re a better nation and a better people than to livestream something like that,” Lunsford told ABC News. “Even though what [Hasan] did and why he did it is messed up, it shows that we can rise to the occasion to be better than him or anyone like him.”
Keara Torkelson was a 21-year-old Army specialist preparing to deploy to Iraq when Hasan shot her at Fort Hood. A shot to her back and a bullet grazing her skull led to medical complications and her ultimate retirement from the Army.
Torkelson said “removing the livestream is the right decision.”
“Justice doesn’t need to be broadcast to be real, and the victims and survivors shouldn’t have to relive any part of this through a public spectacle,” Torkelson told ABC News.
“For those of us who lived through Nov. 5, 2009, this is so much more than a headline or a political debate. It’s part of our lives and our story that we continue to carry. I believe there is a way to acknowledge accountability and justice while still honoring the lives lost, the survivors, and the families who have lived with the aftermath for nearly 17 years.”
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