Vance questioned whether the Pentagon would really livestream Nidal Hasan's execution. He also said he wouldn't watch.
By Lara Seligman and Yoko Kubota
The planned Dec. 3 execution of Nidal Hasan, a former officer who killed 13 people in a 2009, has sparked a national debate after the Pentagon announced that his death by firing squad would be livestreamed. When asked about the livestream, President Trump told reporters Friday afternoon that his administration "is making a determination about that, but he will be killed."
Here's what to know:
Nidal Hasan was a U.S.-born Muslim and Army psychiatrist working at Fort Hood who said he opened fire because he was trying to defend fellow Muslims.
According to testimony, Hasan walked into a crowded building at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009, with 420 rounds of ammunition stuffed in his pockets and paper towels to muffle the sound of the bullets. He yelled "Allahu akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- and methodically shot at soldiers, repeatedly shooting wounded soldiers as they tried to escape.
Hasan was eventually shot and paralyzed from the waist down in the attack. He killed 13 people and wounded 32 more.
Hasan admitted during his court-martial that he carried out the shooting because he believed the military was at war with Islam. During the trial, he acted as his own lawyer and offered no defense for the attack. He was sentenced to death in 2013 by a jury of fellow officers.
Hasan has since been held on death row at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The Army, which is required to provide him legal counsel, declined to comment on his behalf.
It would be the first execution of a servicemember in 65 years.
Only a president can approve the execution of U.S. servicemembers, who are subject to the military's own legal system. Trump approved Hasan's firing squad execution on Oct. 2 upon Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recommendation, the Pentagon said Monday.
Army regulation says the execution must take place no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after the president's approval. In the case of Hasan, his Dec. 3 execution would be almost immediately after the 60-day mark.
If carried out as planned, it would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, when U.S. Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Leavenworth after a court-martial convicted him of rape and attempted murder. It also would be the first military death by firing squad since World War II, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
"It hadn't been since World War II since we've done that. Well, I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was: 'win,'" Hegseth said this week.
Hegseth said the execution was planned to take place at Fort Hood on the same day of the week and time of day that Hasan opened fire there.
Some Republicans are pushing back, saying livestreaming would turn an execution into 'entertainment.'
Democrats and some Republicans have recoiled at Hegseth's plan to livestream the execution, with one Republican saying it turns the event into entertainment and others suggesting it puts America on par with "jihadists." Hasan had told military officials he hoped to become a martyr.
Vice President JD Vance on Friday questioned whether the livestream would happen. If it did, he said, he wouldn't be watching.
"I don't know that's actually going to happen," he told reporters. "Let's sort of see what -- I think it's going to happen in December when he's executed."
He later added: "Look, if it's all through livestream, I'm not going to be watching it."
Republicans expressing opposition include Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania who wrote on X the focus shouldn't be "turning an execution into entertainment." Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, who noted he supports the death sentence, said on X: "Livestreaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that." Sen. John Curtis of Utah, meanwhile, urged Hegseth in a post on X to reconsider, writing that, "Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent."
The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called on the Pentagon to reconsider the plan. "This decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley said in a statement released Friday. "The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people."
It is unclear where the video would air.