Hegseth Confirms Dec. 3 Fort Hood Execution Livestream as Trump, Vance Cast Doubt
Updated
Updated · CNN · Oct 9
Hegseth Confirms Dec. 3 Fort Hood Execution Livestream as Trump, Vance Cast Doubt
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Oct 9
Summary
December 3 at 1 p.m. local time is the scheduled public firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood after Hegseth said people "need to understand" the consequences of such crimes.
Trump said the administration will decide whether to livestream it, while Vance said he does not know if that will happen and FCC Chair Brendan Carr said he understood it would not air on broadcast TV.
The Pentagon has not explained who the shooters will be, how they will be selected or who would run any stream; Trump earlier approved Hegseth's firing-squad recommendation for Hasan.
Bipartisan critics including Thom Tillis, Austin Scott, John Curtis and Chris Murphy called the plan barbaric, authoritarian or propaganda fodder for terrorists.
The execution would be the Army's first of a soldier since World War II and the first military death penalty in 65 years; only six US firing-squad executions have occurred since 1977.
Could livestreaming a historic military execution offer unprecedented transparency, or will it inadvertently turn a convicted mass shooter into a digital martyr?
As the December execution date looms, could last-minute civilian court appeals suddenly halt the military's unprecedented plan for a public broadcast?