Republicans are condemning the Pentagon’s plans to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, with one senator calling it “beyond disgusting.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that Hasan’s execution, scheduled for Dec. 3, would be public. The Pentagon later clarified that the execution would be livestreamed, a decision that is being decried by Republican lawmakers.
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was the first Republican lawmaker to publicly oppose the decision, saying in a statement that while Hasan should face capital punishment, making his execution public was “beyond disgusting” and that “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do.”
“It should not be happening in America,” Tillis wrote.
Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad, and will be the first military execution in more than 65 years. He was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at Fort Hood in 2009 that he committed in an effort to stop the military from going to Afghanistan to kill fellow Muslims, according to the Associated Press.
Retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, similarly told the Washington Examiner that while he agreed with Hasan being executed, he disagreed with livestreaming it, saying he does not think it is a “wise decision.”
“I don’t think it’s dignified to film it, and I think also it could help spur jihadists,” Bacon warned. “I mean, I think solely it will be used to help recruit and inspire more Islamist terrorists.”
Another Armed Services Committee member, Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), shared Bacon’s sentiment, writing in a post on X that “live-streaming executions is what jihadists do.”
“America is better than that,” he wrote.
Freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), meanwhile, said, “An execution shouldn’t be a live-streamed spectacle,” and that the focus should be on “justice for the victims and their families, not turning an execution into entertainment.”
President Donald Trump signed off on Hasan’s execution earlier this week, but has not publicly commented on the plans to livestream the execution. Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Friday that he will not watch the livestreamed execution, and cast doubt on whether it will actually happen.
“I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance said. “Let’s sort of see what I think it’s going to happen in December when he’s executed.”
2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS, RESULTS, AND ANALYSIS
Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) urged Hegseth to reconsider the decision, saying “Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent.”
“A civilization erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment,” Curtis wrote. “The victims deserve justice administered with solemnity.”