President Trump has not yet decided whether the public should be allowed to watch the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan, saying Saturday that he would “make a decision ultimately.”
“He was vicious. He was violent,” Trump said of Hasan while speaking with reporters at the White House.
Trump said officials were weighing two competing arguments: keeping the execution private or broadcasting it as a warning to others. “By showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did,” he said, adding that he was aware of the military’s preference but had not made a final decision.
His comments came the same day he said he had not been involved in the proposal to livestream the execution, though he acknowledged why military officials might want to make Hasan an “example.”
“They want to do that because they want to set an example. I wasn’t involved in that decision, but I understand the decision,” Trump told CNY Central on Friday during a visit to Syracuse. He was in New York to campaign for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s bid for governor when asked whether he had approved a live broadcast.
Asked whether he supported the execution itself, Trump gave a more definitive response: “I did.”
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The remarks appeared to soften Trump’s earlier suggestion that he had approved plans to televise the execution.
During the interview, Trump also revisited the 2009 Nidal Hasan shooting at Fort Hood, an attack that led the military to announce its first firing-squad execution since 1945. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said the execution is scheduled to be broadcast live on Dec. 3.
“He went in and killed 14 people. He badly, badly wounded 22 people,” Trump said, describing Hasan as entering a room, opening fire and shouting what he called inappropriate statements. “So, I guess they want to have it serve as an example, and I understand that very well.”
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in the Nov. 5, 2009 massacre inside a medical facility at the Texas military base.
“I really don’t care how he goes as long as he goes,” Trump said. “And I think that the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.”
Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a campaign event in Ohio on Friday, said he would not watch the execution if it is ultimately televised.
“I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance said. “If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.”
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