U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, October 15, that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, will not be broadcast. The sentence will be carried out by firing squad on the scheduled date.
Trump announced the decision in a post on Truth Social. He wrote that a broadcast could, in his view, serve as a strong deterrent, but that “many good people” would prefer not to see the death of the condemned man, either through streaming or in any other visual form.
“He will die as planned, by firing squad, but this event will not be broadcast.” — Donald Trump on Truth Social, October 15 (original)
The president added that the closest family members of the victims may attend the execution in person if they choose to. The information was first reported by Fox News.
This is also what the broadcaster’s post says:
Trump's Post About Hasan
Trump described Hasan as a former army major who became a traitor. He recalled that Hasan killed 13 people, including a pregnant woman, and wounded 32 others. He also accused the FBI under the Barack Obama administration of intercepting correspondence between Hasan and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, but deeming it non-threatening. The president called this a key intelligence failure.
Why the Change
The Pentagon set the execution for December 3. As we reported, the plan to livestream the execution sparked objections from politicians of both parties, including Republicans. US Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio also criticized it, calling on Catholics on the firing squad to ask to be excused from participating.
Trump did not state in his post that this criticism was the reason for the change. He only wrote that many people would prefer not to watch the execution.
What Comes Next
According to the president’s post, the date is not changing, and the firing squad is to proceed as planned. At the time of publication, we did not know the details of how victims’ families would be able to take part in the execution, nor was there a formal statement from the Pentagon on the matter.
Hasan, a former military psychiatrist, was sentenced to death for the 2009 attack at Fort Hood in Texas. An execution by firing squad in the U.S. military is an exceptional procedure, and the plan to broadcast it was unprecedented.
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