Plan to Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Firing-Squad Execution Draws Pushback, Including From Republicans

A Pentagon plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, has drawn objections from Republican lawmakers and from the archbishop who serves Catholics in the U.S. military.

Hasan is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3, 2026, in what would be the U.S. military’s first execution since 1961, CBS News and The Associated Press reported. President Donald Trump approved the firing-squad execution in early October 2026.

Who objects

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the plan to livestream the execution. House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS News that some Republicans in the House had concerns. “The concern would be that you would create a video that would be a recruiting tool for future terrorists,” he said. He said he would not watch.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska urged the Pentagon to reverse what she called a “gruesome decision.” “It would give this individual, who deserves no further notoriety, the martyrdom he seeks,” she wrote on X. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said in a statement that “the death penalty is not entertainment.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Catholic Church’s ministry to the U.S. military, said in a statement on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, that any Catholic soldier assigned to the firing squad should ask to be excused. Hasan’s crime “was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?” he asked.

Who supports it

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the plan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. “I think people need to understand, if you attack America, we will come after you and we will make sure that the punishment fits the crime,” he said. “No one has to watch it if they don’t choose to.”

Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee was the only Republican member of Congress to publicly voice clear support for the livestream, CBS News reported. “Public execution is what this terrorist deserves,” he wrote on X.

Trump says the decision is his

Trump told reporters on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, that he had not settled the question. “There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it,” he said. “I’ll make a decision ultimately.” Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch if the execution is livestreamed.

The case

Hasan opened fire in a medical building at Fort Hood in 2009, killing 13 people and wounding more than 30. A military jury convicted him and sentenced him to death. Four men, including Hasan, are on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to the AP.

Trump approved the execution days after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection. Read about what happened in that case.