President Trump said he was not involved in the military’s plan to livestream Nidal Hasan’s firing-squad execution, while confirming he approved the death sentence and will decide if the public sees it.
Speaking with reporters at the White House on Saturday, President Trump said he is still weighing whether Americans should witness the execution of the Fort Hood terrorist and will “make a decision ultimately.”
The comments came a day after he told CNY Central during a Syracuse campaign stop that he “wasn’t involved” in the livestream decision, even as he made clear he backs the death penalty for Hasan and understands the push to set an example.
Hasan opened fire inside a medical building at the Texas base on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. Nearly 17 years later, the military has moved to carry out his sentence by firing squad, its first such execution since 1945, with a planned broadcast date of Dec. 3.
Asked whether he approved the execution itself, Trump answered flatly: “I did.”
Fox News reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended death by U.S. Army firing squad and that Trump cleared the way, with the execution set for 1 p.m. CT on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell framed the moment in blunt terms.
"Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended, and President Donald J. Trump has approved, death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009."
Parnell added: “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come.”
On the separate question of a public broadcast, Trump described a split view and kept the final call for himself.
"There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it, because 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 we’ll make a decision."
He also said the military wants the spectacle to deter others and that he grasps the logic, even if he did not craft the livestream plan.
"They want to do that because they want to set an example. I wasn’t involved in that decision, but I understand the decision."
Trump did not say much about the attacker. He called Hasan “vicious” and “violent,” and walked through the slaughter in plain language.
"He went in and killed 14 people. He badly, badly wounded 22 people, walked into a room, just started firing at everybody, screaming things that he shouldn’t be screaming. So, I guess they want to have it serve as an example, and I understand that very well."
Official tallies put the toll at 13 dead and 32 wounded. Supporting accounts note Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he fired on unarmed soldiers. Breitbart reported that Hasan later described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides,” and that only four men, including Hasan, sit on military death row at Fort Leavenworth. The U.S. military has not carried out an execution since 1961.
Trump’s bottom line on method was simpler than the broadcast debate.
"I really don’t care how he goes as long as he goes. And I think that the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him."
Vice President JD Vance struck a cooler note at a Friday campaign event in Ohio. He questioned whether a livestream will happen at all and said he would not tune in if it does.
"I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen."
And: “If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.”
Hegseth had said the execution would be broadcast live on Dec. 3. Trump’s Saturday remarks put that publicity decision back under presidential review, separate from the sentence he already greenlit.
The gap between a completed capital sentence and a televised firing squad is now a White House call. Victims’ families have waited through years of appeals while Hasan remained on military death row. Trump’s position is that the penalty is earned; the only open question is how widely the country will see it carried out.
Justice delayed for a jihadist who murdered American soldiers is still justice owed, and a republic that names the crime plainly should not flinch from finishing the sentence.
