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President Donald Trump announced that the planned firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will not be livestreamed, reversing an earlier Pentagon announcement that the public would be able to watch the convicted mass killer’s final moments.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that broadcasting the execution could serve as a powerful deterrent to terrorism but acknowledged that many Americans would rather not witness Hasan’s death.
“He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” Trump wrote.
AMERICANS DRAW THE LINE AT LIVESTREAMING ‘SPECTACLE’ OF FORT HOOD SHOOTER’S EXECUTION: ‘IT’S AN ABOMINATION’
This April 9, 2010, file photo released by the Bell County Sheriffs Department shows Maj. Nidal Hasan at the Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas. (AP)
Hasan’s execution is scheduled for Dec. 3. Trump said immediate family members of the 13 people killed in Hasan’s 2009 rampage will be permitted to attend in person if they choose.
“They deserve to witness JUSTICE!” Trump wrote.
The president’s announcement comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the execution would be made public, telling Real America’s Voice that Americans would be able to watch Hasan’s death.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” Hegseth said at the time.
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 November 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout)
Pentagon officials subsequently confirmed Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed, though additional details had not yet been released.
Trump suggested in his Truth Social post that broadcasting the execution could have sent a message to would-be terrorists.
“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,” Trump wrote.
This undated photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff’s Department shows former Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan. (HANDOUT/Reuters)
The president added that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.”
Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009.
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He opened fire inside a medical processing building where soldiers were preparing for deployment, shouting “Allahu akbar” before shooting at service members with a handgun. Hasan was shot by law enforcement during the attack and left paralyzed from the waist down.
U.S. Army soldiers salute their fallen comrades during the III Corps and Fort Hood Memorial Ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, November 10, 2009. The memorial was held to honor the 13 victims of the shootings which took place on the Fort Hood Army post on November 5. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi)
During his 2013 military trial, Hasan acknowledged carrying out the shooting and represented himself after dismissing his attorneys. He was sentenced to death.
The execution would mark the first military execution in more than 65 years. The last U.S. military execution took place in April 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged.
However, Hasan could still seek to delay his execution through a habeas corpus petition in civilian court, a legal challenge that experts say could significantly postpone the proceedings.
Trump also used his Truth Social post to criticize the Obama administration’s handling of intelligence involving Hasan, pointing to electronic communications between the former Army officer and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki that were intercepted by the FBI before the attack.
The president claimed that investigators’ failure to identify the communications as a threat amounted to a major intelligence failure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
