President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan will no longer be livestreamed in December.
The president wrote on his Truth Social social media platform that publicly airing the firing squad execution of Hasan -- which is currently scheduled to take place at Fort Hood, Texas, on Dec. 3 -- “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan.”
But, Trump added, “any very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.”
President Trump confirms the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will not be live streamed. https://t.co/843eV8m9MG
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 15, 2026
The decision to livestream the execution created bipartisan criticism, with Vice President JD Vance weighing in on the subject, The Associated Press reported.
“I’m not going to be watching it,” Vance said, according to The New York Times. He added: “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen.”
The execution of Hasan, 56, was recommended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and approved by Trump, NBC News reported.
The U.S. military has not executed a service member since 1961, when Pvt. John Bennett was hanged after his conviction for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria, ABC News reported. The last service member executed by a firing squad was Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945, according to NBC News.
Hasan was an Army psychiatrist when he opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, ABC News reported. He fatally shot 12 soldiers and one civilian before he was wounded and arrested, according to the news outlet.
According to witnesses, Hasan should “Allahu akbar” -- Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun, the AP reported. In addition to the 13 people killed, 32 were wounded.
Hasan was convicted in July 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, CNN reported. A jury of 13 officers unanimously recommended a death sentence.
A U.S.-born citizen of Palestinian descent, Hasan acted as his own lawyer during the trial, according to NBC News.
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