Donald Trump’s media enforcer says he won’t try to stop Pete Hegseth from carrying out his shocking plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan.
One day after the Pentagon chief announced his plan to turn the military execution into a public spectacle, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr was confronted about whether such a thing could be broadcast at all.
“Ultimately we’re going to defer to Secretary Hegseth and his decisions on how to move forward with this,” Carr said, when asked on CNBC if the execution is “something you would allow on broadcast if they wanted to.”
“My understanding is it’s not on broadcast TV, so I don’t think there’s a role for the FCC one way or the other there,” Carr said.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was sentenced to death for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 massacre at the military base.
The Pentagon announced Thursday that his execution by firing squad, scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, would be livestreamed.
Hegseth, who has described the attack as a radical Islamist assault from within the military’s ranks, said the public should watch the execution to understand that such crimes carry serious consequences.
“He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be,” the former Fox & Friends co-host told the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.”
The planned execution would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, and the first public execution in the country since 1936.
But Hegseth’s apparent enthusiasm for the spectacle triggered an extraordinary bipartisan backlash, with critics comparing the idea to public executions in authoritarian countries and propaganda videos produced by terrorist groups.
“Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” said North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis.
“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”
Trump’s one-time White House communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, also weighed in.
“I support the death penalty, especially for terrorists,” said The View co-host. “But I think it’s toxic for society to live-stream an execution. And bad for the human soul to tune in to watch.”
And Republican Joe Kent, an Iraq War veteran and former CIA paramilitary officer who resigned from the Trump administration in March over the president’s war with Iran, called plans to livestream the execution “beneath the dignity & decency of our nation.”
“It also gives the terrorists free propaganda that they will use to radicalize & recruit more terrorists like Hassan,” he wrote on X.
Carr has been one of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants, but his answer raises questions about Hegseth’s macabre plan.
The FCC regulates licensed broadcasters, but a livestream falls outside of it regulatory power, although the Pentagon feed is something that broadcasters could potentially pick up to run.
That said, online platforms also have their own content policies, several of which restrict graphic depictions of death, and broadcasters remain subject to restrictions on obscene and indecent material, particularly during hours when children are likely to be watching.
Whether footage of an execution would violate those rules would depend on the content and circumstances, and Carr offered no assessment on this.
Hegseth’s decision to make the killing a public event has also raised questions about whether the defense secretary is pursuing justice—or staging a made-for-television demonstration of toughness as he builds his profile inside Trump’s administration.
Some have speculated the Pentagon chief has presidential ambitions for 2028, although he has not made his intentions known.
Carr, however, said he trusted Hegseth’s judgement about the execution.
“I mean, he’s implementing the laws and regulations that are relevant to the Department of War, and I think he’s doing a great job, and I trust that he’s making the right call on these issues,” he said on Friday.
