Trump calls off livestream of Ford Hood shooter’s firing squad execution

(CNN) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan’s firing squad execution will not be livestreamed, reversing an announcement from the Pentagon last week.

“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” Trump said of Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others in the 2009 shooting. Trump added that the immediate families of the victims will be able to watch the execution in person.

CNN reported earlier this week that the president and his advisers were debating whether to call off plans to livestream the execution, with Trump having remarked privately that he did not initially know that Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down.

The president was not aware that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was announcing last week that the administration planned to let the public watch the execution, sources familiar with the discussions said, and was not sure what to make of it at first. Trump was, however, firmly behind the decision to execute Hasan via firing squad, multiple officials told CNN, and he’s often defended it in public.