Latest
Category 2 Hurricane Isaias nears landfall, leading to production shut-insFormer Cruz spokesman: ‘It’s going to be a bad night’ for Republicans in midtermsNvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta gave Trump a combined $92 million for his ballroomIsraeli Military Continues the Search for an Unidentified Aerial Object Detected Near Lebanese BorderUS senator Susan Collins writes off allegations of corruption as ‘completely false’Lawmakers from both parties welcome Trump’s decision to cancel livestream of firing squad execution – liveCould Dan Osborn shake up Nebraska’s Senate race?Category 2 Hurricane Isaias nears landfall, leading to production shut-insFormer Cruz spokesman: ‘It’s going to be a bad night’ for Republicans in midtermsNvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta gave Trump a combined $92 million for his ballroomIsraeli Military Continues the Search for an Unidentified Aerial Object Detected Near Lebanese BorderUS senator Susan Collins writes off allegations of corruption as ‘completely false’Lawmakers from both parties welcome Trump’s decision to cancel livestream of firing squad execution – liveCould Dan Osborn shake up Nebraska’s Senate race?
← Top America

Trump cancels livestream of Nidal Hasan firing squad execution; bipartisan lawmakers welcome decision

Confirmed1 source · Oct 15, 2026

The planned public broadcast of the first U.S. military execution in over 60 years has been scrapped after Trump expressed private misgivings and a Washington Post/ABC News poll showed 80% of Americans opposed it.

Trump cancels livestream of Nidal Hasan firing squad execution; bipartisan lawmakers welcome decision
Image via The Guardian

What happened

Donald Trump canceled a Pentagon plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army doctor who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. According to The Guardian, Pete Hegseth told rightwing broadcaster Real America's Voice that the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, scheduled for 3 December, would be available to watch online—what would have been the first military execution in more than 60 years and the first in U.S. history to be publicly broadcast. Trump expressed private misgivings about the plan according to Axios, citing four people who spoke with the president. A Washington Post/ABC News poll found 80% of Americans opposed a live broadcast (91% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans), though 53% of Americans supported executing Hasan by firing squad overall.

Context

The cancellation reflects broad public and bipartisan opposition to publicizing the execution. Democrat Senator Elissa Slotkin called the plan 'sick,' while Republican Senator John Curtis warned that broadcasting executions 'cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment' and is 'not an effective deterrent.' Critics, including Democrats and several Republicans, argued the live broadcast would align the U.S. with authoritarian countries that make executions a public spectacle and risked radicalizing viewers by turning Hasan into a martyr. Vice-President JD Vance had cast doubt on the plan earlier, saying he did not know if it would 'actually happen' and that he would not watch it if it did. The decision stands in contrast to some Trump allies: far-right activist Laura Loomer argued the broadcast would 'really help improve the morale of Americans' and draw lines between supporters and opponents of America.