President Trump has reversed a Pentagon plan to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the Army major convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. The execution remains scheduled for December 3, but Trump said on Truth Social that the event "will not be streamed." Families of victims will still be allowed to watch, but the public broadcast is off.
The plan was announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and immediately drew criticism from both sides of the political aisle. An ABC News poll found 8 in 10 Americans opposed the livestream, including a 55 percent majority of MAGA Republicans. Trump told CNN he had been blindsided by the announcement and feared that broadcasting the execution could fuel anti-American propaganda or reflect poorly on the U.S.
Additional concerns emerged during the debate: the event could expose the public to graphic violence, and livestreaming risked making it possible to identify soldiers assigned to the firing squad. One Army officer called the potential harm "irreparable." Trump said the decision was ultimately his, not Hegseth's, and noted that he had not initially known Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down. The Pentagon had backed Hegseth's plan as of Tuesday, but Trump's statement overrides it.