Pentagon's livestreamed execution plan sparks fierce backlash across political divide

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream the firing squad execution of a former army major has triggered fierce backlash across the political spectrum, with critics warning that turning the death penalty into a public spectacle undermines American values and risks aiding extremist propaganda.

Hegseth said Thursday that Nidal Hasan, sentenced to death for shooting to death 13 people and wounding 32 others in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, would be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3 at the same army base.

Hasan, a former army psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and has since been held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The Pentagon announced Monday that President Donald Trump approved the recommendation.

“Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, wrote on US social media company X.

“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”

Joe Kent, the Trump administration’s former National Counterterrorism Center director who resigned in March over the Iran war, warned that broadcasting the execution could end up helping extremist groups.

“Streaming his execution is not just a stain on our morality — it also gives the terrorists free propaganda that they will use to radicalize & recruit more terrorists like Hassan [sic],” Kent wrote on X.

Democrats had similar concerns, arguing that public punishment would turn justice into a spectacle rather than uphold the rule of law.

Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said a public execution would make “a mockery of our legal system.”

Sen. Patty Murray urged the Pentagon to abandon the plan, saying the country could punish the convicted killer without glorifying violence.

“We can seek justice in this country without glorifying violence and turning an execution into a grotesque public spectacle,” she wrote on X.

Sen. Ruben Gallego offered an even sharper rebuke, saying: “The U.S. government and victims can have justice without us creating a snuff film.”