President Trump said he had no role in the military plan to livestream Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan’s firing squad execution, while confirming he approved the death penalty and will decide on public viewing.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Saturday, President Trump laid out two competing ideas on whether Americans should see the execution of the Fort Hood murderer and made clear the final call rests with him.

He told reporters he knows what the military would prefer, yet he will weigh the options himself before the scheduled event.

The remarks followed comments Trump made a day earlier in Syracuse, where he drew a sharp line between approving Hasan’s execution and the separate question of putting it on a live feed. The New York Post reported the president’s account of both conversations and the surrounding military timeline.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had said the execution would be broadcast live on Dec. 3. The military framed the coming firing squad as its first such execution since 1945.

Trump draws a line between the sentence and the camera

On Friday, during a trip to Syracuse where he campaigned for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s gubernatorial bid, Trump spoke with CNY Central and addressed the livestream idea directly.

“They want to do that because they want to set an example. I wasn’t involved in that decision, but I understand the decision,” Trump said.

“They want to do that because they want to set an example. I wasn’t involved in that decision, but I understand the decision.”

Asked whether he had approved the execution itself, Trump answered without hesitation: “I did.”

He went further on the method. “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 president said.

“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.”

Those Friday comments came as Trump appeared to step back from any earlier impression that he had greenlit a public broadcast. By Saturday at the White House he framed the visibility question as still open and under his review.

Administration moves that long-standing structures have become familiar territory, much like when the Trump administration dismantled USAID without waiting on Congress.

Two thoughts on deterrence still sit on the president’s desk

Trump described the core tension in plain terms Saturday.

“There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it, because you know by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did. So I’ll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we’ll make a decision,” he said.

“There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it, because you know by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did. So I’ll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we’ll make a decision.”

He called Hasan “vicious” and “violent,” then walked through the 2009 attack in his own words.

“He went in and killed 14 people. He badly, badly wounded 22 people, walked into a room, just started firing at everybody, screaming things that he shouldn’t be screaming. So, I guess they want to have it serve as an example, and I understand that very well,” Trump said.

Reporting on the same attack has long stated that Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 32 others inside a medical building at the Texas Army base then known as Fort Hood. Trump’s casualty figures differ; both descriptions underscore the scale of the massacre that put Hasan on death row.

Justice Department actions under this White House have likewise focused on final accountability, including recent steps where the Justice Department moved to revoke citizenship from dozens of naturalized foreign nationals.

Vance doubts the feed and says he won’t watch

Vice President JD Vance struck a cooler note the same Friday while campaigning in Ohio.

“I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance said of a livestream. He added, “If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.”

“If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.”

Vance’s skepticism sits alongside Trump’s promise to decide the visibility question himself. The military’s stated interest in setting an example remains the stated rationale for a public broadcast; the president has now claimed ownership of the final yes or no.

Personnel and structural shifts continue across the executive branch, from new tech leadership bodies such as the Super Intelligence Force created to lock in a U.S. AI lead to older security practices still in use.

Even protective details have drawn fresh attention after a Secret Service director confirmed decoy Air Force One tactics used for Trump in the past.

Hasan’s crime still defines the stakes

On Nov. 5, 2009, Nidal Hasan opened fire inside a medical building at the Texas base. Thirteen people died and 32 were wounded, according to long-established accounts of the attack. Trump has repeatedly returned to that day when explaining why the death penalty fits.

The coming execution by firing squad would be the military’s first since 1945. Hegseth’s Dec. 3 broadcast date put a clock on the separate debate over cameras. Trump has now separated three questions that had blurred together: the sentence itself, which he says he approved; the livestream plan, which he says he did not shape; and the final decision on public viewing, which he says he will make.

Political relationships in this orbit can turn quickly once a decision is locked in, a pattern visible when Trump branded Cuellar a loser for remaining a Democrat after a pardon.

For now the president’s public posture is consistent on one point and open on another. Hasan will face the death penalty. Whether the country watches remains Trump’s call.

Victims’ families waited more than a decade and a half for this sentence to be carried out. A clear example of consequences still matters more than any camera angle.

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