US President Trump cancels livestream of Nidal Hasan execution after bipartisan backlash News
The U.S. Army, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
US President Trump cancels livestream of Nidal Hasan execution after bipartisan backlash

US President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled the livestream of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan’s firing-squad execution after bipartisan backlash.

Trump stated on Truth Social that he still thought streaming the execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan.” The families of the victims of the Fort Hood shooting may still watch the execution. 

In 2009, Hasan opened fire in a crowd of people at Fort Hood military base, killing 13 and injuring an additional 30 people. After the shooting, the FBI investigated Hasan and found that there were no co-conspirators, nor was there a broader terrorist plot connected to the event. The FBI also did not find a motive behind the Fort Hood shooting. In 2013, Hasan was sentenced to death by a military jury, and had exhausted all of his appeals by 2025.

On Friday, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned that the livestreaming of the execution would violate the absolute ban on torture. US Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Friday that he “would not be watching” Hasan’s livestreamed execution, should it occur. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to Jack Posobiec, a far-right activist, in an interview for his publication Human Events last week, and announced that the firing squad execution would be livestreamed. Hegseth said that Hasan’s shooting was a “radical Islamist attack” and that people should be able to watch the execution in order to understand there are “serious consequences for these types of things.” 

Hasan is set to be executed on December 3 at Fort Hood.

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