President Donald Trump has canceled plans to livestream the scheduled execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama’s administration for an intelligence failure leading up to the attack.
"I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post shared Thursday (October 15).
"He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed."
Trump also accused the Obama-era FBI of failing to recognize the threat posed by electronic communications between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Yemeni-American cleric.
He said investigators concluded Hasan’s emails were not a threat, an assessment he called a “key intelligence failure.”
Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3, and Trump said the victims’ immediate families could attend in person.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the livestream plan on October 8, saying people needed to understand there were “serious consequences” for such attacks.
The proposal drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who called livestreaming the execution “beyond disgusting,” according to Roll Call.
NBC News reported that in an interview with CBS News earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) expressed concern that footage of Hasan’s execution could be used as a recruiting tool by future terrorists.
“We’ve got to think through the policy implications of all that,” Johnson said, adding, “I wouldn’t be watching it if it was aired.”
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