Trump says Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad, but won't be streamed
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Nidal Malik Hasan, the former U.S. Army Major convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, will be executed by firing squad as scheduled — but that the execution will not be streamed live, reversing an earlier suggestion that it might be.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Hasan as "a very bad and evil man, who killed 13 people, including a pregnant soldier, who died, along with her unborn son, and injured, very seriously, 32 more innocent people."
"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 added that the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, "if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!"
The case
Hasan was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas — the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation. He was sentenced to death and has been on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since then.
In his post, Trump also referenced the FBI's pre-attack review of Hasan's communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric and al-Qaeda recruiter killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike. Trump said the Bureau had intercepted electronic communications between Hasan and al-Awlaki, and that investigators concluded Hasan's emails were not a threat — an assessment Trump described as "a key intelligence failure" of the Obama administration.
Earlier signals
Wednesday's post appears to walk back an earlier statement. A U.S. official had previously said the execution would be streamed live — a decision that drew criticism from victims' families and civil liberties groups. The Pentagon had not publicly confirmed that plan, and it remains unclear whether the earlier statement reflected a firm decision or a preliminary discussion.
The execution is scheduled to proceed by firing squad. Military executions in the United States are rare — the last was in 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder. No U.S. military execution has been carried out since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, meaning Hasan's case would mark the first military execution in more than six decades.
Trump's post did not specify a date, though he said Hasan "will die, as scheduled." The White House has not released additional details.