Trump and advisers debate livestreaming Nidal Hasan execution with some officials expressing concern

Hegseth's announcement last week caught Army planners off-guard, sources said.

President Donald Trump and his advisers are mulling whether to no longer livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Some officials, the sources said, have raised concerns about the optics of broadcasting an execution, particularly one in which a firing squad would shoot a paralyzed man confined to a wheelchair.

Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down during an exchange of gunfire with police during his 2009 rampage.

Multiple people familiar with the planning described concerns behind the scenes about the video being used as propaganda by extremist groups.

The president has asked a number of advisers and allies to weigh in on whether the Pentagon should move forward with livestreaming the execution. During discussions, a range of ideas have been floated, sources said.

Among the options being weighed is broadcasting the period immediately before the execution and cutting away before the firing squad shoots Hasan, an official familiar with the planning described. Another option being discussed is positioning the camera outside the execution area, potentially showing Hasan being brought in without broadcasting his death.

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Additionally, Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson have said they wouldn't watch the execution. Opposition or hesitancy has been less focused on Hasan's death sentence which has broad support among Republicans, but on the decision to broadcast it.

Hasan described his attack as an act of jihad against American troops for the wars being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan which he viewed as immoral.

The military has not executed a death-row prisoner since 1961, when the sentence was carried out by hanging.

Hegseth's announcement last week that Nidal Hasan's execution would be livestreamed caught Army planners by surprise, according to three officials familiar with the preparations, adding another complication to an execution the service is already scrambling to organize.