Seung Min Kim
US President Donald Trump says the Pentagon will no longer livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, after the announcement faced bipartisan criticism and Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn’t watch it.
Trump said on social media on Thursday (US time) that publicly airing the execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan”.
But, he continued, “any very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device”.
The Pentagon has said Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3. Trump said the execution can be viewed in person by immediate families of the victims, “if they so choose”.
The announcement earlier this month from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that Hasan’s execution would be public – and subsequent confirmation from the Pentagon that it would be live-streamed – prompted significant blowback from both Republicans and Democrats, with many pointing out that the images could be used to fuel radicalisation.
When asked how the public execution comported with his Christian faith earlier this month, Vance said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen”.
“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance said.
But he continued: “Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.”
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building on November 5, 2009, where soldiers were waiting in long lines to receive immunisations and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted, “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for “God is great” – and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. He also shot at the backs of soldiers fleeing toward the parking lot.
Hasan said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims. A military judge barred him from presenting that as a defence during his 2013 trial. Hasan was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot in the back by law enforcement, and he now uses a wheelchair.
Hasan could seek a lengthy delay of his execution, though given his behaviour at trial, he may not want to.
More to come