On Oct. 10, President Donald Trump said he will personally decide whether the firing-squad execution of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed, turning a state-administered death into public viewing material. Two days after Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth announced the broadcast, the question remains open.
“By showing it, maybe other people won't be doing what he did, so I'll make a decision ultimately,” Trump said outside the White House. “I know what the military would like to do, but we'll make a decision.” He called Hasan “vicious” and “violent,” adding, “There are two thoughts: Show it and don't show it.”
A Rare Bipartisan Rebuke
Hegseth announced on Oct. 8 that he would make a livestream of the execution public. Criticism came quickly, crossing party lines. Democrats and Republicans alike condemned the plan, comparing it to the behavior of dictators and terrorist organizations.
Lawmakers don’t use that language lightly. Their concern reaches beyond Hasan: when a government stages an execution as a spectacle, it blurs the line between justice and performance.
Hasan was convicted in 2009 of killing 13 people and wounding more than 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas. That was 17 years ago. Victims’ families and survivors have lived with the consequences ever since. Trump acknowledged that on Oct. 10. “He's a vicious killer, killed 13 people in cold blood, wounded over 20, some of those people will never have their lives back in a true sense,” he said.
Mixed Signals From the Administration
The White House hasn’t spoken with one voice. The day before, Trump said Hasan “deserves it,” though he didn’t make clear whether he meant the execution itself or a livestream. Vice President JD Vance said on Oct. 9 that he wouldn’t watch the execution if it were livestreamed. He added that he didn’t “know that that's actually going to happen.” Vance is a Catholic.
Pope Leo XIV spoke out against the death penalty on Oct. 10, after the controversial announcement.
The Federal Communications Commission isn’t stepping in. CNBC asked Chairman Brendan Carr whether he would allow the livestream to be broadcast; he said he would “defer to” Hegseth. “My understanding is it's not on broadcast TV, so I don't think there's a role for the FCC there one way or the other,” Carr said. In other words, no independent regulator appears positioned to weigh in.
The Date Is Set
The firing-squad execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, where Hasan carried out the mass shooting. Whether cameras will roll remains the president’s call.
Why This Matters: Capital punishment is the most serious power a government holds, and the way officials carry it out says something about the state’s restraint. Here, one official controls whether a death gets broadcast; no regulator claims a role, and the stated rationale rests on deterrence. Critics from both parties have compared the plan to the conduct of dictators and terrorist groups. The pope’s renewed opposition to the death penalty adds a moral dimension, which even the vice president, a Catholic, has implicitly acknowledged by saying he wouldn’t watch. For Hasan’s victims’ families, a public spectacle may not bring the closure the administration implies. The precedent matters, too: once executions become broadcast events, defending democratic norms around dignity, due process, and limits on state power gets harder. The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood.