Handout photo of Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 31 in a November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood.
US President Donald Trump has cast doubt on plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood military base in Texas, even as he backed carrying out the death sentence.
Trump said on Friday that authorities were still deciding whether the execution, scheduled for December 3, would be broadcast publicly. Vance cast doubt on Friday (October 20, 2026) on whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.
“They are making a determination about that, but he will be killed,” Trump said. The Pentagon had indicated earlier that the execution would be livestreamed after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military would ensure people could watch it. Earlier reporting noted: The Republican V-P said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday (October 8, 2026). Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten. Earlier reporting noted: “So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Mr. Vance said.
The plan has drawn criticism from lawmakers across party lines, human rights groups and religious leaders over concerns about publicly displaying an execution. “I really don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes. However, Vice President JD Vance also expressed uncertainty about whether the broadcast would take place. But Mr.
Earlier reporting noted: Vance expresses doubts about Pentagon plan to livestream Fort Hood shooter’s execution Vice-President J.D.
Republican Representative Austin Scott said Hasan should be executed but argued that livestreaming executions was associated with jihadist groups. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hasan should face justice but questioned whether the United States should associate itself with public executions, comparing the practice to those carried out by Iran and the Taliban. A spokesperson said livestreaming an execution would amount to a public execution and breach the absolute prohibition of torture. Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the plan a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death” and said it should be reconsidered.
The proposed broadcast has faced opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. The United Nations human rights office also condemned the proposal.