On November 5, 2009, Hasan opened fire in a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, where soldiers were getting checkups before deployment. Thirteen people died and 32 were wounded. He said he wanted to stop soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan. At his 2013 court-martial he acknowledged being the shooter, represented himself and called no defense witnesses, and a military jury sentenced him to death. He is one of four men on military death row at Fort Leavenworth.

On October 5, the Pentagon said Trump had approved Hasan’s execution by firing squad. Spokesman Sean Parnell said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the method. On October 7, Hegseth told Real America’s Voice, “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” The Pentagon confirmed the next day that the execution will be livestreamed. It is scheduled for 1 p.m. local time on December 3 at Fort Hood.

If carried out, it would be the first military execution since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged, and the first military firing squad execution since Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945. The last public execution in the United States was Rainey Bethea’s hanging in Kentucky in 1936, reportedly watched by about 20,000 people. Newsweek reported that the Death Penalty Information Center has no record of an execution ever being livestreamed in the United States.

Asked on October 9 about the livestream, Trump said, “they’re making a determination about that.” Asked whether he approved the execution, he said, “Did I approve? Absolutely.” On October 10 he said, “There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it,” and, “I’ll make a decision, ultimately.” A White House official told Reuters that Trump “doesn’t oppose the idea” but has not settled on it. Vice President JD Vance said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” and that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he would defer to Hegseth on whether networks could air it.

Army regulations let a small group witness an execution, including the prisoner’s lawyer, family members and at least two members of the news media. They bar anyone under 18. Brenner Fissell, a Villanova law professor, said the rules were not written with a livestream in mind. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said a public execution would require a waiver from Trump.

Hasan has not said whether he will challenge the sentence. A habeas petition in civilian federal court could delay the execution for years. “It frankly might outlast the current administration,” Yale military law lecturer Eugene Fidell said.

Supporters start with consequences. Hegseth said the execution should be public “because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” On October 10, Trump said that “by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did.” He told CNY Central the military wanted the execution to “serve as an example, and I understand that very well.” Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, wrote that “public execution is what this terrorist deserves.” Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas, cited Genesis 9:6 and said, “The more people that can see that truth illustrated through a public execution, the better.” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on October 11 that “no one has to watch it if they don’t choose to.”

A second argument is transparency. Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law professor who studies the death penalty, said livestreaming could make the process “much more transparent” and could inform the public about capital punishment.

Several critics support the sentence and still object to the broadcast. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, wrote, “Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting. Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do.” Rep. Austin Scott, a Georgia Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said he supports the death sentence but “live-streaming executions is what jihadists do.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said a livestream could give Hasan “the martyrdom he seeks.”

Democrats made a similar case. Reed called a livestream “a barbaric spectacle” and “a gift to anti-American terrorist recruiters.” Sen. Patty Murray said, “We are long past the days of public hangings in the town square.”

Geoffrey Corn, a Texas Tech law professor and former Army lawyer, said the plan “raises significant moral questions, above and beyond the questions related to the death penalty generally.” The UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming an execution “is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.” Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the plan “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.”

Alonzo Lunsford, 59, a former Army sergeant who survived the shooting, told BBC Radio 4 of a livestream, “I don’t agree with that, but it’s not about my personal belief.” He said he was concerned about the message it could send to young people. He believes survivors and families should be allowed to watch, and he plans to attend. He called a firing squad “befitting.”

Newsweek reported that relatives of some victims oppose a broadcast. It quoted Kristopher Craig, whose brother, Army Pfc. Michael Pearson, was killed in the attack, urging Trump and Hegseth not to broadcast the execution, citing “a difference between accountability and spectacle.”

1. Trump’s decision, and where a broadcast would run. The Pentagon has not said where it would air.

2. The witnesses. The Pentagon has not said whether victims’ families would be invited.

3. Hasan’s lawyers. John Galligan, a former military judge who is not Hasan’s criminal counsel, says Hasan has not had access to a lawyer since the approval. The Army says he has not been prevented from contacting counsel.