VP Vance casts doubt on live-streaming the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan
Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin explores the history of firing squads in the United States, the controversy surrounding a proposed livestream of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan’s execution, and Vice President JD Vance’s reservations about broadcasting the death sentence on “Special Report.”
A leading U.S. archbishop is urging Catholic soldiers to seek an exemption from taking part in the planned firing-squad execution of the convicted Fort Hood gunman, a proceeding the Pentagon has considered livestreaming.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees Catholic ministry within the U.S. military, voiced multiple concerns about the unprecedented proposal to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan. The former Army psychiatrist was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others during the 2009 attack at Fort Hood. Hasan, now 56, has used a wheelchair since being shot by responding law enforcement officers.
The Army has scheduled Hasan’s execution for Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. CST at Fort Hood. If carried out, it would be the first U.S. military firing-squad execution since 1945 and the first military execution by any method since 1961. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said Hasan should be executed at the same time, on the same day of the week and at the same location as the 2009 attack, arguing that a public broadcast could reinforce the punishment’s deterrent effect.
Broglio recalled leading the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the sole civilian killed in the Fort Hood shooting, and said the attack remains deeply painful. At the same time, he questioned whether the government intended to “imitate the terrorists of this world” by turning the killing of an adversary into a public spectacle.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio has challenged the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“Hasan’s crime was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?” Broglio asked in a statement.
He added, “I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church.”
Army rules allow service members to request religious accommodations or exemptions in certain circumstances.
The military has not publicly explained how it plans to choose the soldiers who would form the firing squad.
“The U.S. military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world,” Broglio said. “Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?”
No U.S. government execution has ever been televised or livestreamed for the public, making the Pentagon’s proposal a historic first and prompting criticism from religious and political figures.
Broglio is among several Catholic leaders who have condemned the proposed livestream of Hasan’s execution.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan is scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, a proceeding that would mark the U.S. military’s first firing-squad execution since 1945. (REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout)
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Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was “shocked” and deeply saddened by the plan, calling on the government to reconsider it.
“In no way can Hasan’s actions be condoned, but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,” Coakley said Friday. “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, described the proposed broadcast as “truly incomprehensible” and said turning an execution into a spectacle would be unacceptable.
“The Church’s position is one of total opposition to the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and serves as no deterrent,” Parolin told reporters Friday.
In an English translation published by Vatican News, Parolin said he could not understand why authorities would pursue such a method in the modern era. Regardless of Hasan’s guilt, he said, “It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle,” adding that other options exist.
Parolin reiterated that the death penalty conflicts with human dignity and does not deter crime.
Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty as “inadmissible” in a social media post on Saturday marking World Day Against the Death Penalty.
Citing Catholic doctrine revised under his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo emphasized that the death penalty violates human dignity.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption,” Leo, the first American pope, wrote on X without specifically mentioning the Pentagon’s execution plan for Hasan.
A U.S. government execution has never been broadcast to the general public, making it an unprecedented plan that has drawn backlash from political and religious leaders. (Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump said Saturday he had not yet decided whether to allow the livestream plan to move forward, although he has reportedly expressed doubts in private about broadcasting the execution.
Vice President JD Vance, who is a Catholic, expressed skepticism about whether the Pentagon would proceed with a public execution. He said he would not watch the livestream if it were carried out.
Several lawmakers, including Republicans, have spoken out against plans to broadcast the execution.
“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said on Thursday. “It should not be happening in America.”
