Hegseth Makes Sick Boast He'll Livestream Military Execution

Eric Lee / Eric Lee, Reuters Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has boasted that he will make the execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan a public spectacle.

The execution will be “live-streamed,” a move that Hegseth—a self-professed devout Christian—announced in an interview with a far-right YouTuber.

Hasan, 56, an Army psychiatrist who is convicted of killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 in a 2009 mass shooting in Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by military firing squad on Dec.

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Hegseth described the mass murder as “a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks” to the conservative network Real America’s Voice.

The defense secretary promised the execution will be public.

The last public execution in the United States was in 1936.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things.” Hegseth’s promise would mark a dramatic departure from the modern practice of carrying out executions away from public view.

A Pentagon official said there will be a “livestream.” Hegseth says the execution by firing squad will happen on a Thursday, at 1:00 p.m., which is when Hasan committed his crime.

The U.S. military hasn’t carried out an execution by firing squad since 1945.

“I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II,” Hegseth said.

“Which was to understand when the enemy attacks you, you need to stand your ground.” Hasan’s execution would also be the first U.S. military execution since a soldier was hanged in 1961.

Rainey Bethea, a 22-year-old Black man, was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States, in 1936.

He was convicted of raping and murdering a 70-year-old white woman and was killed by hanging in Owensboro, Kentucky.