Donald Trump has made no public comment on the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the military execution of Nidal Hasan, the former army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
Trump approved the execution and said at a White House event on Friday that Hasan would be put to death by firing squad. The President did not address the livestreaming plan announced by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth the previous day.
The White House has directed questions about the plan to the Pentagon. Trump told a rally in Texas on Wednesday: “We are going to deliver final justice to an evil killer.”
Hasan is due to be executed on December 3 at the same sprawling Texas military base where he opened fire with a handgun in a medical facility.
The execution would make Hasan the first person to be put to death by a US military firing squad since 1945.
The proposal has drawn criticism from some Republican politicians and conservative strategists. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina described the idea as “beyond disgusting” in a social media post.
“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” said Mr Tillis, a frequent critic of Mr Trump who is not standing for re-election. “It should not be happening in America.”
