President Donald Trump promoted a pastor’s biblical defense of livestreaming Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan’s execution on Saturday, even as the president said he would personally decide whether the controversial broadcast goes ahead. Trump reposted a report featuring Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas and a longtime Trump ally, who argued that the public execution would demonstrate the sanctity of human life. The post sharpened a divide among religious leaders after Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to capital punishment and the head of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops directly condemned the proposed livestream. It also came as opposition widened among Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans who support executing Hasan but oppose livestreaming it. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment on Saturday.
I know what the military would like to do, but I’ll make a decision.” His comments suggested the livestream remained under consideration, one day after Trump said he had “absolutely” approved the Pentagon’s plan. Trump also defended the death sentence, describing Hasan as “a vicious killer” who “killed 13 people in cold blood” and wounded more than 20 others. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said the military would make Hasan’s December 3 firing-squad execution public because “people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” On November 5, 2009, Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist, entered a processing center at Fort Hood in Texas where soldiers were preparing for deployment.
Witnesses said he shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," before opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in the attack, making it one of the deadliest shootings ever carried out on a U.S. military base. Hasan was shot by civilian police officers responding to the scene but survived.
He was left partially paralyzed and has spent years incarcerated at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. During his court-martial, Hasan largely declined to challenge the government's case.
Instead, he openly acknowledged being the shooter and told jurors that evidence would show he carried out the attack. He described himself as a soldier who had "switched sides" and argued that his actions were intended to prevent U.S. troops from deploying to Muslim countries. A military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and dozens of counts of attempted murder before sentencing him to death in 2013.
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