US President Donald Trump has ruled out livestreaming the scheduled execution of former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Trump revealed the decision in a Thursday post on his Truth Social platform, stating that Hasan would still be put to death by firing squad as planned for December 3, 2026.
The US president had previously proposed that airing the execution might discourage terrorism, but he said he changed his mind after weighing the opinions of those who were against televising the killing.
“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.
“He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” Trump wrote.
He also stated that the immediate families of the victims could attend the execution in person if they wished.
“They deserve to witness justice!” he said.
In the post, Trump called Hasan a “very bad and evil man” and claimed that the administration of former President Barack Obama had failed to act on intelligence about the former army psychiatrist before the shooting.
Trump stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had intercepted electronic communications between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric, but that investigators determined Hasan’s emails posed no threat.
He called the assessment a major intelligence failure, an allegation that has also come up in scrutiny of how authorities handled information about Hasan before the attack.
The choice not to livestream the execution comes after criticism of the earlier plan to broadcast it publicly. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier announced that the execution would be livestreamed, which drew objections from lawmakers and religious leaders.
Trump authorized the execution once the military appeals process had concluded. The US Army announced that it was set for 1 pm local time on December 3 at Fort Hood, the site of the shooting.
On November 5, 2009, Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers at the military installation, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.
In 2013, a military jury convicted him of premeditated murder and attempted murder and handed him a death sentence. His case became one of the most significant acts of violence at a US military installation.
The attack also led to scrutiny of how the FBI and military authorities handled information about Hasan and his communications with al-Awlaki before the shooting.
