Trump Scraps Pentagon Plans for Live Broadcast of Firing Squad Executions

A Thursday poll found that 8 in 10 Americans opposed the Pentagon's plans.

A poll on Thursday showed that 8 in 10 Americans disapprove of the Pentagon's plans.

Apparently, Donald Trump was unaware of Pete Hexeth's plans to go live.

On Thursday, Donald Trump canceled the Pentagon's highly controversial plans to live-stream the firing squad execution, which was still scheduled for Dec. 3.

Trump supports the execution of Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. But sources close to Trump told CNN that the president turned a blind eye last week when Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett announced that the ceremony — the first execution of an American soldier since World War II — would be broadcast live.

Reaction to the live broadcast was immediate and cut across political divides. The morning Trump canceled the shows, an ABC News poll found that 8 in 10 Americans opposed the live broadcast, including a 55 percent majority of MAGA Republicans.

Insiders told ABC News that Trump fears that "broadcasting the execution could heighten anti-American propaganda or reflect on America." According to CNN, Trump said privately that "he didn't know at first that Hassan was paralyzed from the waist down." As one military officer appalled by Hexett's announcement explained in a separate CNN report, live streaming the execution would "destroy everything America stands for."

"The generational trauma of allowing soldiers in uniform to stand in front of a man in a wheelchair and watch him get shot," the officer, who has been deployed several times to the Middle East, told CNN.

The live broadcast carried the risk of being identified by American soldiers

Trump confirmed on Truth Social that Hassan would die by firing squad as planned, but the event would not be aired. Victims' families will still be able to watch the execution, but the execution will not be broadcast to the public.

"I think streaming the execution to everyone would be a strong deterrent for the world to see how America deals with terrorists and SCUMs like Hasan, but many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch his death via streaming or any other visual means," Trump said.

Among the "well-wishers" who influenced Trump's decision was Vice President JD Vance. On Friday, Vance told the press that if the live stream were to happen, "I wouldn't watch it."

In addition to the potential harm of exposing people to psychological trauma, the Pentagon apparently did not consider other challenges that live streaming might pose, CNN reported.

For example, it's unclear whether the event could be broadcast anywhere other than the Pentagon's site, as social media and broadcast channels have rules against content depicting graphic violence. And for soldiers ordered to join the firing squad, the live broadcast risks being identified, CNN warned.

When Hexett first announced this live broadcast, he was speaking with right-wing podcaster Jack Pozubik aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. "We're making sure that people can watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for this kind of thing," Hexett, who has just welcomed home troops who have spent months in the Middle East, told Posobiec.

As of Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense supported the Defense Secretary, confirming that details of the live stream would be shared soon and that the event would take place as Hexett had announced.

However, Trump emphasized in his interviews that it was not up to Hext to decide whether to go live as the defense secretary had prescribed on the podcast.

"Eventually I will make a decision," Trump said Saturday. "I know what the army wants to do, but we will decide."

Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking the social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. He is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience.