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President Donald Trump said Saturday he had not decided whether the firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan would be livestreamed, saying he will ultimately “make a decision.”
The Pentagon confirmed to Fox News Digital earlier this week that the execution of Hasan – a former Army major who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood in 2009 – was scheduled to be livestreamed on Dec. 3.
Trump, however, said he had not decided whether to allow the military’s first execution in more than six decades to be broadcast from Fort Hood.
“He was vicious, he was violent,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about Hasan’s execution.
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President Donald Trump says he hasn’t decided whether Nidal Malik Hasan’s firing squad execution at Fort Hood will be livestreamed. (Reuters)
“There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it,” he continued. “Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did.”
“I’ll make a decision, ultimately,” Trump added. “I know what the military would like to do, but we’ll make a decision.”
Fox News Digital previously reported that Trump approved the use of an Army firing squad following a recommendation from War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump’s comments came one day after he was asked whether he had approved the decision to livestream the execution.
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Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army doctor identified by authorities as the mass shooter at the U.S. Army post in Fort Hood, Texas, is seen in this undated handout photo from a pdf file of the U.S. Government Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences downloaded on Nov. 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout)
“I wasn’t involved in that decision, but I understand the decision,” Trump said during an interview Friday with CNY Central following a rally in Syracuse.
Trump added that the military wanted the execution to “serve as an example, and I understand that very well.”
Vice President JD Vance said Friday that he wasn’t sure whether the execution would be livestreamed.
“If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he told reporters.
The Bernie Beck Gate at Fort Hood is pictured at sunrise on Nov. 7, 2009, in Killeen, Texas, two days after a gunman opened fire at the military installation, killing 13 people. (Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
If Hasan’s execution is carried out, it would be the first conducted by the U.S. military since 1961 and the first military execution by firing squad since 1945.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
