Trump personally authorizes public livestream of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan's firing squad execution

President Donald Trump confirmed he personally authorized the planned public livestream of the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. The execution, scheduled for December 3 in Texas, will be carried out by firing squad, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had announced the Pentagon's plan to make the event publicly viewable, calling the firing squad method a "no-brainer" and saying people need to understand there are serious consequences for such crimes.

The announcement immediately generated confusion within the administration. Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch the livestream and questioned whether the execution would actually be public, directly contradicting Hegseth's statement. Trump's subsequent disclosure that he had personally authorized the plan appeared intended to settle the internal dispute, though observers noted the signals from the White House remained mixed. Some Republicans in Congress, including Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, publicly opposed livestreaming executions, calling it contrary to American values.

The planned broadcast would represent a historic break with nearly nine decades of U.S. practice, during which executions have been conducted as private, often secretive affairs. Legal questions about whether the livestream is permissible under existing law were already being examined, with Reuters publishing an explainer on the question's complexity. Trump was also reported to be separately engaged on foreign policy, expressing displeasure over the situation in Saudi Arabia.