President Donald Trump said Thursday that the planned execution by firing squad of convicted Fort Hood mass killer Nidal Hasan would not be live-streamed.
Trump's announcement came after growing opposition to the idea of showing Hasan's execution live online, with concern that the footage would become a recruiting tool for terrorists.
"Nidal Malik Hasan, a former U.S. Army Major turned traitor, is a very bad and evil man," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
"With all of that being said, I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device," Trump wrote.
"He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed."
The Pentagon on Oct. 5 said that Trump had approved a recommendation by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to have Hasan, 56, executed by a U.S. Army firing squad for the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting massacre of 13 people at the Army base in Killeen, Texas. Another 32 people were injured in the shooting, which occurred when Hasan was an Army major.
Hegseth on Oct. 8 said the execution would be at Fort Hood and, "He's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be."
"And we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that this is there's serious consequences for these types of things," Hegseth said.
The Pentagon later said it would be live-streamed.
Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death after a 2013 court-martial.
He would be the first person executed after a U.S. armed forces court-martial since 1961.
CNBC has reached out to the Pentagon for comment on Trump's post.
Nader Hasan, a cousin of Nidal who had spoken out after the Fort Hood shooting, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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