Donald Trump is expressing doubts about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s barbaric plan to livestream a public execution is a good idea, according to a report.
The 80-year-old president has been privately signaling to those close to him that a livestream of the execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 U.S. soldiers during an attack at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, “might not happen,” a source told Axios.
The unnamed confidant added that Trump did not sound “particularly enthusiastic” when discussing plans to livestream the execution. “That’s why he’s calling around, doing the Trump thing, asking people what they think.”
Trump is feeling uneasy about allowing the public to watch Hasan be executed by firing squad after hearing bipartisan waves of “negative input” from lawmakers and advisers both inside and outside the White House, a senior administration official said.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment.
Hegseth made the shock announcement last week that Hasan, 56, a former Army major, would face the first military execution since 1961 on Dec. 3. The announcement also included an unprecedented decision to livestream it, citing Hasan’s role in carrying out the “radical Islamist attack” at Fort Hood.
“And we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth told Real American News.
Outgoing Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis described the plans as “beyond disgusting.” Utah Sen. John Curtis likened the proposal to ancient Rome and warned that “civilization erodes” when society begins to consider executions a form of entertainment.
“Secretary Hegseth’s plan to livestream the Fort Hood execution risks feeding that appetite. The victims deserve justice administered with solemnity. Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent,” Curtis added. “I urge him to reconsider.”
Trump was initially giddy at the idea of a public execution and told reporters at the White House on Friday that he “absolutely” approved of it.
By Saturday, Trump said he would ultimately decide whether the livestreamed execution of Hasan would go ahead.
“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,” Trump said. “So I’ll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we’ll make a decision.”
Sources outlined to Axios the arguments Trump is weighing before deciding whether to follow through with Hegseth’s plans.
“The president wants the b-----d to pay, and a public execution might be that extra humiliation [Hasan] deserves,” one confidant who spoke with the president said. “At the same time, he doesn’t want to make the guy a martyr.”
“This is an old dude in a wheelchair we’re shooting,” a second source added. “We want to livestream that?”
Hasan was left partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair after being shot by police during his arrest.
A military jury sentenced him to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.
Vice President JD Vance has already sought to distance himself from the proposed public execution, should it go ahead.
“Whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance told reporters on Friday.
“Now that said, I mean, look, if it’s all through livestream, I’m not going to be watching it.”
