President Donald Trump has abandoned a proposal to livestream the Fort Hood shooter’s execution, overruling Secretary of War Pete Hegseth after the idea drew criticism from across the political spectrum.
Nidal Malik Hasan will still be executed by firing squad, Trump said in a Truth Social post. The event, however, will not be broadcast online or shown through any other public video feed.
Instead, Trump said the execution may be witnessed in person “by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose.” That leaves the most directly affected families with the option to attend, without turning the death sentence into government-produced online viewing.
Trump acknowledged that a public broadcast might have served as a “strong deterrent,” but said “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.”
Why the livestream proposal was dropped
Hegseth raised the possibility of streaming Hasan’s execution the previous week. The suggestion quickly attracted opposition from both Democrats and Republicans, an increasingly uncommon display of bipartisan agreement.
Vice President JD Vance also said he would not watch the execution if it were broadcast. Trump’s announcement now ends the public-streaming proposal, while leaving the planned method of execution unchanged.
No execution date was included in the announcement.
What Hasan was convicted of
Hasan was convicted of carrying out the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, a United States Army installation in Texas. He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
The attack remains one of the deadliest shootings at a US military base. Hasan’s firing-squad execution is still expected to proceed, but the audience will be restricted to eligible relatives attending in person. The wider public, despite Hegseth’s proposal, will not be invited to watch from a screen.
