After religious pushback, Trump says Pentagon won’t livestream execution

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(RNS) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday (Oct. 15) that the Pentagon will not livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter, backing away from a proposal that triggered widespread pushback from prominent religious leaders.

In a statement published to Truth Social , Trump said livestreaming the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army officer who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others when he opened fire at Fort Hood in 2009, would be a “strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists.”

But the president concluded that “many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming or through any other visual device.”

Trump added: “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”

The announcement comes after a week of controversy that erupted when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to livestream the execution of Hasan, who is slated to be killed by a firing squad in December.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it,” Hegseth said last Thursday.

According to a…