Trump Signals Doubts About Livestreaming Hasan Execution

Eric Lee/Reuters Donald Trump is expressing doubts about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s barbaric plan to livestream a public execution is a good idea, according to a report.

The 80-year-old president has been privately signaling to those close to him that a livestream of the execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 U.S. soldiers during an attack at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, “might not happen,” a source told Axios.

The unnamed confidant added that Trump did not sound “particularly enthusiastic” when discussing plans to livestream the execution.

“That’s why he’s calling around, doing the Trump thing, asking people what they think.” Trump is feeling uneasy about allowing the public to watch Hasan be executed by firing squad after hearing bipartisan waves of “negative input” from lawmakers and advisers both inside and outside the White House, a senior administration official said.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment.

Hegseth made the shock announcement last week that Hasan, 56, a former Army major, would face the first military execution since 1961 on Dec.

3.

The announcement also included an unprecedented decision to livestream it, citing Hasan’s role in carrying out the “radical Islamist attack” at Fort Hood.

“And we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth told Real American News.

Outgoing Republican North Carolina Sen.

Thom Tillis described the plans as “beyond disgusting.” Utah Sen.

John Curtis likened the proposal to ancient Rome and warned that “civilization erodes” when society begins to consider executions a form of entertainment.

“Secretary Hegseth’s plan to livestream the Fort Hood execution risks feeding that appetite.