Vance says Pentagon livestream of Fort Hood gunman’s execution remains uncertain
Vice President JD Vance said he does not know whether the Pentagon will livestream Nidal Hasan's execution, as former officials and a leading Catholic bishop condemned the plan.
Cincinnati, United States. Vice President JD Vance said on Friday he does not know whether the Pentagon will proceed with plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army psychiatrist convicted over the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting. The plan, championed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has drawn broad condemnation.
Vance questions whether livestream will proceed
“I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance told reporters in Cincinnati, referring to the proposed livestream.
He added that if the execution scheduled for December 3 is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.”
The comments by the second-highest-ranking US official leave unclear the extent of opposition within President Donald Trump’s administration to the Pentagon’s plan. Hasan was found guilty in a US military trial of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas.
Trump said at a White House event on Friday that Hasan deserves the death penalty by firing squad, calling him “a maniac.” The Republican president has not said whether he supports livestreaming the execution.
Hegseth defends public execution
Hegseth, a Trump appointee, said on Thursday that the public nature of the execution would demonstrate “there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
He also reposted a comment Trump made in 2013, possibly about the Boston Marathon bombers: “Should be public execution for all to see — you will end this bullshit fast!”
Death penalty experts said the proposed livestream would be the first known broadcast or livestream of a lawful execution.
Criticism and unanswered questions
Former US officials warned that livestreaming the execution would give terrorists a recruiting tool.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, also condemned the proposal.
“This decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,” he said.
The Pentagon declined on Friday to say whether relatives of those killed in Hasan’s attack would be invited to attend, as is common practice in civilian executions.
It also remains unclear how the Army would select the shooters or what protocols would be followed during the execution. The Pentagon said it would release details later.
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