US Lawmakers Slam Pentagon Plan to Livestream Nidal Hasan Execution

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing widespread backlash after announcing plans to livestream the execution of the man who killed 13 people at a Texas military base.

Lawmakers from both parties in the US Congress swiftly condemned the move after the Pentagon chief said in an interview on a conservative media outlet on Thursday (local time) that the firing-squad execution of former US Army Major Nidal Hasan would be made public.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who recently expressed regret over his 2025 vote to confirm Hegseth to lead the Defense Department, wrote on social media: "Hasan needs to face the death penalty, but public and streamed execution? Absolutely disgusting. Public executions are what dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. That should not happen in America."

Republican Representative Austin Scott, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also objected to the announcement. "I fully support the death sentence, but livestreaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that," the Georgia congressman said on X.

Scott's Republican House colleague, Representative Rob Bresnahan, said: "The focus should be on justice for the victims and their families. Their pain deserves respect, not a public spectacle."

Al Jazeera did not receive responses from three Republican senators – Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell and Lisa Murkowski – who opposed Hegseth's confirmation.

Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist, was sentenced to death in August 2013 after a military jury convicted him on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder in the Fort Hood shooting.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump authorized the use of a firing squad in Hasan's execution. Hegseth said on Thursday that the execution would take place at the military base on December 3 at 1pm local time (19:00 GMT), the same time the 2009 shooting occurred.

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Friday urged the Trump administration to "reconsider" the decision, saying it was "a gift to those who recruit terrorists against America".

"Livestreaming an execution is a barbaric spectacle," the Rhode Island senator told Al Jazeera in a statement. "This is yet another stunt by Secretary Hegseth to distract from the repeated failures of his tenure, which have only undermined our national security and our standing in the world."

Reed added: "This is utterly shameful and damaging to America's interests and core values."

His Democratic colleague, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, appeared shocked and rolled his eyes during a CNN interview on Thursday when asked about Hegseth's decision. "It's disgusting," Murphy told CNN's Erin Burnett. "Is he emulating ISIS [ISIL] executions? I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions are medieval."

Not every lawmaker opposed the idea, however. Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee said on social media that "a public execution is what this terrorist deserves", calling Hegseth's decision "excellent".

Army policy

US Vice President JD Vance, during a visit to his home state of Ohio on Friday, told reporters he would not "watch" the livestream of Hasan's death. "I saw these announcements. I don't know if it will actually happen," said Vance, a former US Marine. "Let's wait and see... when he is executed."

US Army policy limits who may witness military executions. Under regulations issued by the branch, no one under 18 may witness an execution. Victims, their family members, the prisoner's lawyers and at least two members of the press are among the few permitted to watch.

To make Hasan's execution "public", according to Reed, President Trump would have to approve an exception. The White House did not respond when asked whether the president would grant the Pentagon that authority.

The head of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates broadcast media in the country, said on Friday that he would leave it to the Pentagon to decide whether US television stations could broadcast the execution. "Ultimately, we're going to leave it to Secretary Hegseth and his decisions about how to conduct this," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in an interview with CNBC.

A Pentagon official told Al Jazeera that the department "has nothing further to provide".

The United Nations strongly condemned the plan to livestream Hasan's execution, saying it would violate international law. A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office told AFP that broadcasting the execution would "amount to a public execution and violate the absolute prohibition of torture".