Fierce, bipartisan pushback over Hegseth’s plan for livestream execution

Fierce, bipartisan pushback over Hegseth’s plan for a livestream execution

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream a military firing squad execution next month is causing a fierce outcry of opposition from both sides of the aisle.

The Pentagon on Thursday revealed a surprise plan to livestream the Dec. 3 firing squad execution of the convicted Fort Hood, Texas, shooter, former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, in what would be the military’s first execution in six decades .

The plan immediately drew fierce blowback from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, former Trump administration officials and even the leading Catholic bishop in the U.S., who have called the idea barbaric and below the country’s dignity and standards .

Vice President Vance was the first administration official to hint at some unease with the Pentagon’s decision, telling reporters Friday that he will not be watching the execution should it be livestreamed.

Vance also expressed skepticism that the live stream would even take place, saying, “ I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen .”

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), posted to X that while he “absolutely” support’s Hasan’s death sentence, live-streaming executions “is what jihadists do. America is better than that. “

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), warned that a “civilization erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment,” urging Hegseth to reconsider .

And Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center who resigned in March over the Iran war, said streaming Hasan’s execution is “ a stain on our morality .”

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood in 2009, killing 13 people . He has never claimed innocence and is set to be put to death on Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. local time at the same military base, according to Hegseth.

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Vice President Vance said Friday that he will not be watching the execution of Nidal Hasan if the Pentagon follows through on livestreaming the event in December. “I’ve seen those announcements. I don’t know if that’s actually going to happen,” Vance told reporters Friday in Lima, Ohio. “This is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11,” he continued. …

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spoke out Friday against the Defense Department’s plan to livestream a firing squad execution next month. Archbishop Paul Coakley said he felt “shock and sorrow” when he learned of the plan to livestream the execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. A Pentagon official told The Hill that the military …

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Thursday slammed the recent decision by the U.S. military to livestream the upcoming execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, calling it “beyond disgusting.” “Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” he wrote on social platform X. “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should …

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) on Friday called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “a deeply unwell person” over his plan to livestream a firing squad execution next month. “I think Pete Hegseth is, frankly … a deeply unwell person who seems to relish this kind of brutality,” Ossoff said on MS NOW. The Pentagon a day prior revealed a surprise plan to livestream the Dec. 3 firing squad execution of the convicted Fort …

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