"I'm not going to be watching it" - JD Vance on possible livestreamed execution

JD Vance has cast doubt on the Pentagon's plans to livestream a firing squad execution.

The US vice-president expressed uncertainty to reporters about whether the December execution would go ahead as planned, saying: "I don't know that that's actually going to happen". He added that "if it's through livestream, I'm not going to be watching it".

Hours later, US President Donald Trump said he "absolutely" approved of the livestream plan but said the Pentagon was still "making a determination" on it.

Nidal Hasan killed 13 unarmed soldiers at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009 and injured another 32. His execution would be the first military firing squad execution in more than 60 years.

The Pentagon announced its desire to execute the former US Army major by firing squad over the attack on 3 December earlier this week.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth then said the execution would be livestreamed for the public, as "people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things".

Trump was asked about the possibility that visuals of Hasan's execution could be used as propaganda for terrorists as he left the White House on Friday.

Calling Hasan "totally nuts", he replied: "I really don't care how he goes, as long as he goes, and I think that the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him."

The Pentagon declined to comment further when asked for more information about a decision on the livestream.

Vance condemned Hasan's attack on the base as "the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11" while speaking to reporters on Friday.

Asked about how his Catholic faith affected his stance on the plan to stream a public execution, Vance questioned whether it would happen.

But he noted that Hasan, a military psychiatrist, was meant to treat soldiers for mental illness and other problems, but had instead "took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived".

Watch: Trump says he approved the livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter

The possible livestreaming of the execution has been met with criticism from both political parties.

Republican Senator John Curtis pointed to Rome's history of a "bloody spectacle" corrupting people who watched, warning that public executions eroded civilisations "when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment".

Curtis said that Hegseth's plan "risks feeding that appetite" and urged him to reconsider.

"The victims deserve justice administered with solemnity. Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent."

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN that the idea was "disgusting" and reminiscent of executions carried out by the Islamic State group.

Georgia lawmaker Austin Scott, a Republican, said that while he "absolutely" supported the death sentence, livestreaming executions was "what jihadists do - America is better than that".

John Bolton, a former national security adviser during the first Trump administration, told BBC's Radio 4 PM that he supported capital punishment, but that the livestream was "unnecessary" because there were provisions for interested parties to view the execution in person.

"I just think this is a mark by Secretary Hegseth doing something he thinks will please President Trump," he said. "I think that's really not appropriate for a secretary of defence."

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops also condemned the decision to publicly livestream Hasan's execution, expressing "shock and great sorrow".

The UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming it would be "tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture".

Can the Fort Hood shooter’s execution be livestreamed?

Hasan opened fire in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were awaiting check-ups and vaccines on 5 November 2009.

He later admitted in court that he was the gunman and apologised for "any mistakes". He said during his court-martial in 2013 that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the US military.

It was the deadliest ever non-combat attack on a US military base.

While there were more than 2,700 executions across 17 countries last year, only two nations carried them out publicly. Eleven public executions were known to have been carried out in Iran in 2025 and another six in Afghanistan, according to Amnesty International.

When Hegseth told reporters on Thursday about his livestreaming plans, he did not specify where or how the execution would be shown.

A Pentagon spokesperson later reiterated to the BBC that Hasan's execution "will be livestreamed" but said the government had no further details.

The White House did not respond to an inquiry about whether it expected to show Hasan's planned execution on its social media channels.

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All of the social media platforms the US government has accounts on have prohibitions in place on violent images and videos, as well as those that show death or glorify or make a spectacle of violence.

Meta - owner of Instagram, Facebook and Threads - explicitly bans any livestream of capital punishment.

YouTube bans all "violent or gory content intended to shock or disgust viewers", while TikTok similarly bars "extremely graphic, violent or disturbing content" that includes the "moment of someone's death" and "the shooting of an individual".

But both YouTube and TikTok make exceptions in instances of "public interest".

Asked whether a livestream of an execution qualifies for the exception if it is government-sanctioned, a TikTok spokeswoman said: "Regardless, I'd point you back to the not allowed section which reflects our approach."

The policy at X, which has loosened content moderation since billionaire Elon Musk took over the platform, prohibits content "glorifying" violence.

Meta, YouTube and X did not respond to multiple BBC requests for comment.

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