WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hassan will not be broadcast live in the United States.
There had been speculation for days about whether the government would follow through on a decision announced by War Secretary Pete Hegseth to broadcast the executions live. Trump said that while he believed live broadcasting of executions would be a good deterrent, he decided not to do so.
“I think having the execution livestreamed for all to see would probably be a strong deterrent to the world witnessing how the United States deals with terrorists and scum like Hassan, but many very kind and well-intentioned people would rather not watch his death via a livestream or any other visual device,” Trump said in a “Truth Social” post on Thursday.
“He will be executed by firing squad as planned, but the event will not be broadcast live,” the president shared. “That being said, the victim’s immediate family can watch the execution in person if they wish. They deserve to witness justice!”
Trump also attacked former President Barack Obama, who opened fire on Hassan in 2009, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others.
Trump said: “Former U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan turned traitor, he was a very bad, evil man who killed 13 people, including a pregnant soldier who died along with her unborn son, and seriously injured 32 innocent people.”
“Barack Hussein Obama’s FBI intercepted electronic communications between Hassan and radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki,” Trump added. “When reviewed by the FBI Terrorism Task Force, investigators concluded that Hassan’s emails did not pose a threat. An evaluation of the Obama administration’s actions was later deemed a critical intelligence failure.”
Ahead of the president’s announcement, Catholic leaders condemned the planned executions and live broadcasts, with Timothy Broglio, who leads the Archdiocese for Military Services, calling on Catholics assigned to firing squads to ask for mercy. The Pentagon declined to comment on the topic when asked by The Daily Telegraph this week.
“The U.S. military has not executed a prisoner since 1961, and for good reason,” Joseph Coffey, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for Military Services, told The Daily Telegraph on Monday. “This is so barbaric. I hope and pray [Secretary Hegseth] President Trump has changed his mind and no longer does this. “
Vice President J.D. Vance was asked by reporters on Friday what, as a Catholic, he thought about the planned public executions. Vance said he would not be watching the live broadcast and questioned whether it would take place.
“But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a man who, in my opinion, committed the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11, and the people he was supposed to be treating, the Army soldiers with mental illness and other issues that he was supposed to be treating, he caught them at their most vulnerable and he shot these people right where they lived,” Vance said.
“So regardless of the controversy over the manner of the execution, I hope people don’t forget that this was a man who brutally murdered so many innocent people,” the vice president added.