Pentagon's plan to livestream execution sparks backlash

Washington — The revelation that the Pentagon plans to livestream the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the ex-Army major convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, has sparked intense pushback, with one Republican senator calling it "disgusting" and critics warning it could inspire more acts of terrorism.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed CBS News' reporting that the Dec. 3 execution will be livestreamed. Hegseth told Real America's Voice the execution would be public "because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things." Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that Hegseth recommended, and President Trump approved, a plan to use an Army firing squad.

"Death penalty through firing squad, and he deserves it," Mr. Trump said during an unrelated White House event on Friday.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is retiring, called the decision "beyond disgusting." Tillis voted to confirm Hegseth, but is now expressing his regret in doing so.

"Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting," Tillis wrote on X . "Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America."

Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia wrote on X , "I absolutely support the sentence of death, but live-streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that."

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said publicly executing someone is "medieval."

"That's disgusting. What, is he mimicking ISIS executions?" Murphy said on CNN . "I mean, I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions is medieval. It's frankly one of the things that we abhor about terrorist groups. And the fact that the United States is doing it — I just learned this, that is just absolutely extraordinary, galling. No matter whether you support or oppose the death penalty, public hangings and executions? That's what America has become?"

Ned Price, who was the State Department's spokesman during the Biden administration, said a public and livestreamed execution will create more "radicalized zealots."

"You can take it from those of us who've spent years working on terrorism: the surest way to spawn more radicalized zealots is to glorify violence, embrace a cult of death, and create a martyr for the cause," Price wrote on X . "Or take it from AQ and ISIS, whose tactics offer the closest modern-day approximation of Hegseth's proposal. Either way, it's hard to conjure a more vivid example of his trademark performative bravado, which routinely damages America's image and, in this case, so ghoulishly leaves us more vulnerable."

Alonzo Lunsford, a former U.S. Army sergeant who was shot seven times during the Fort Hood shooting but survived, said he supports the gunman's execution by firing squad.