Trump Reverses Decision To Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution

President Trump on Thursday scrapped the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the December 3 execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and wounding dozens more in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage.Mr. Trump announced the about-face in a Truth Social post Thursday. “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,” he wrote. “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”The reversal came after the proposal sparked opposition from religious organizations and politicians spanning the political spectrum who called it un-American to broadcast executions and a spectacle that could damage the country’s image abroad. Others had raised concern that broadcasting the execution could fuel anti-American propaganda, particularly among Islamic-extremist groups.Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, blasted the plan as “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” The execution remains on schedule. Mr. Trump said victims’ immediate families would still be permitted to witness it in person, writing that “they deserve to witness JUSTICE!”Hasan, who opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, described the attack as an act of jihad protesting U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has said he hoped to die in the assault and would consider himself a martyr if executed.Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that behind-the-scenes discussions had been underway for days. Among the considering factors by officials were concerns about the optics of a firing squad shooting a man confined to a wheelchair. Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down after an exchange of gunfire with police during the 2009 attack.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had vowed just last week to make the execution public, and the Pentagon had insisted as recently as Tuesday the livestream was moving forward. “The Secretary is correct. It will be live streamed. Details will follow,” a defense official stated.Behind closed doors, however, officials reportedly floated compromise options, including broadcasting only the moments before the execution and cutting away before the firing squad fired or positioning cameras outside the execution area entirely. Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson both said they would not watch the execution, though opposition centered on the decision to broadcast it rather than on the death sentence itself, which retains broad support.The military hasn’t executed a death-row prisoner since 1961, when the method was hanging. A military firing squad has not been used since World War II. The Army has spent months preparing for Hasan’s execution and those of other death-row inmates, originally planning for lethal injection at the federal prison at Terre Haute, Indiana.

Trump Reverses Decision To Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution

Trump Reverses Decision To Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution

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