Vance doubts Pentagon's Hasan livestream plan, says he won't watch

Bipartisan and international critics condemn livestream plan

US Vice-President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday on the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army major sentenced to death for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, and said he would not watch if the broadcast took place.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Vance said: “I see these announcements. I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen.” He added: “If it’s through live stream, I’m not going to be watching it.” The vice-president described Hasan’s actions as “the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11.” He said Hasan, who was meant to treat soldiers for mental illness and other problems, “took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived.”

Hasan fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, injuring another 32. His execution by firing squad would be the first US military execution in more than 60 years.

The Pentagon announced earlier this week that it would execute Hasan by firing squad, the first of its kind since the end of World War Two. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then said on Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed for the public. “People need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said. The BBC reported it has asked the White House whether President Donald Trump supports the plans.

The announcement has drawn criticism from both parties, religious leaders, and international officials.

Republican Senator John Curtis pointed to Rome’s history of a “bloody spectacle” corrupting spectators, warning that public executions erode civilizations “when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment.” Curtis said Hegseth’s plan “risks feeding that appetite” and urged him to reconsider. “The victims deserve justice administered with solemnity,” he said. “Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent.”

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN the idea was “disgusting” and reminiscent of executions carried out by the Islamic State group.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the decision to publicly livestream Hasan’s execution, expressing “shock and great sorrow” in a statement.

The UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming the execution would be “tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.”