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A growing number of Republicans are pushing back on the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, as President Trump says he hasn’t made a final decision.
Getting into it: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that Hasan’s execution, scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, would be public “because people need to understand that there are serious consequences,” and a Pentagon official later said it would be streamed online. Hasan, a former Army major now 56 and in a wheelchair, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 in the 2009 shooting.
The US military hasn’t executed anyone since 1961, and hasn’t used a firing squad since 1945. House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS that some House Republicans have concerns it could become a terrorist recruiting tool and that he plans to raise them with the White House. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said it would give Hasan “the martyrdom he seeks,” Sen. Kevin Cramer said “the death penalty is not entertainment,” Sen. Thom Tillis called it “beyond disgusting” and Rep. Bruce Westerman urged Trump to stop it. Rep. Andy Ogles is the only Republican in Congress to publicly back the plan, writing “We will be watching.”
Trump’s story on his role has shifted. He told reporters Friday he “absolutely” approved the livestream, then told a local TV station the same day he “wasn’t involved in that decision.” Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn’t watch and doubted it would happen, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the plan, saying “no one has to watch it.”
Trump later told reporters, “There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it. Cause you know, by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did. So I’ll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but I’ll make a decision.”
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Catholic military archdiocese, urged Catholic troops picked for the firing squad to request they be removed, and questioned whether the US wants to “imitate the terrorists of this world.”
