Trump scraps plan to livestream execution after backlash

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The firing squad execution of a convicted military base shooter will not be livestreamed, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday, cancelling a contentious plan by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. The move to livestream Nidal Hasan's execution was widely opposed at home and abroad, prompting outrage from both US Democratic and Republican politicians, the Catholic Church, rights groups and the United Nations. The cancellation is a blow to Hegseth, who is already under fire over the stalemated Iran war and its fallout, which are weighing on the Republican Party's chances in upcoming midterm elections. Hasan "will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed", Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. The US president indicated that he did not personally oppose the streaming plan, saying that it "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", Trump said, adding that the execution could still be viewed in person by immediate family of the victims if they wanted to do so. Hasan's execution — scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down 13 people in 2009 — is set to be the first by a US military firing squad since 1945. Hegseth said last week that "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public", later confirming that the plan was to livestream the execution.