Vance unsure if Pentagon will livestream a prisoner's execution, but he won't be watching
asserted
he → livestream → execution
Trump has not said whether he thinks execution should be shown on a livestream
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance said Friday he does not know whether the Pentagon will carry out its plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of the former U.S. Army psychiatrist convicted in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, a proposal that has drawn broad condemnation.
As the controversy over the plan championed by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth grew, former U.S. officials warned that livestreaming the execution would hand terrorists a recruiting tool, while a top U.S. Catholic bishop called the plan "barbaric.
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bishop → say → plan
"I don't know that that's actually going to happen," Vance told reporters in Cincinnati, referring to the livestream.
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Vance → know → livestream
Vance added that if the Dec. 3 execution is livestreamed, "I'm not going to be watching it."
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I → add → it
Vance's comments raise questions about support within U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to the Pentagon's plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, who was found guilty in a U.S. military trial of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas.
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who → raise → Texas
Trump said at a White House event Friday that Hasan deserves the death penalty by firing squad, calling him "a maniac."
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Hasan → say → him
The Republican president has not said whether he thinks the execution should be livestreamed.
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execution → say → ?
Death penalty experts said it would mark the first known broadcast or livestream of a lawful execution.
Pentagon says firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter will be livestreamed
The U.S. plans to livestream an execution.
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U.S. → say → execution
Here's how that compares to global practice
Hegseth, a Trump appointee, said Thursday that the public nature of the execution would demonstrate "there's serious consequences for these types of things."
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nature → compare → things
Hegseth reposted a comment Trump made in 2013, possibly about the Boston Marathon bombers, saying: "Should be public execution for all to see — you will end this bullshit fast!"
uncertain
you → reposte → bullshit
The Pentagon on Friday declined to say whether families of those killed in Hasan's attack would be invited to attend the execution, as is common practice in civilian executions.
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families → decline → executions
It also remains unclear how the Army would select the shooters and what protocols would be followed.
uncertain
protocols → remain → shooters
The Pentagon said it would release details later.
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it → say → details
A top U.S. Catholic official condemned the plan.
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official → condemn → plan
"This decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered," said Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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Coakley → reconsider → Bishops
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump during an event in Sparrows Point, Maryland, earlier this month.
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Hegseth → shake → Point
The Catholic Church opposes capital punishment.
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Church → oppose → punishment
Vance, a convert to Catholicism, has written a book about his faith.
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Vance → write → faith
Hegseth, a member of a conservative evangelical denomination, has invoked Christian language when discussing the Iran war and has led prayer services at the Pentagon.
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Hegseth → invoke → Pentagon
Hegseth also brushed off Pope Leo's criticism of the war.
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Hegseth → brush → war
Hasan is set to become the first person executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945.
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Hasan → set → 1945
Hasan, an American-born Muslim, said during his 2013 trial that he carried out the shootings to try to stop what he called a U.S. war on Islam.
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he → bear → Islam
"Whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people," Vance told reporters.
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Vance → hope → reporters
senator
Joe Kent, who resigned this year as Trump's head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, said the effort to deter extremism by livestreaming the execution could backfire.
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effort → resign → execution
"Streaming his execution is not just a stain on our morality — it also gives the terrorists free propaganda that they will use to radicalize & recruit more terrorists," Kent wrote on social media.
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Kent → stream → media
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis wrote on social media that Hasan should be put to death, but that livestreaming his execution would be "beyond disgusting" and something that "oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do."
U.S. army moves to execute man convicted in 2009 deadly Fort Hood rampage by firing squad
Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan sentenced to death
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a former Army officer, said such a livestream would give Hasan more attention.
"This is a gift to anti-American terrorist recruiters.
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This → write → recruiters
It is absolutely shameful and damaging to America's interests and core values," Reed said in a statement.
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Reed → say → statement
The UN human rights office condemned the decision.
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office → condemn → decision
"Public executions constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a news briefing in Geneva.
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Mantoo → constitute → Geneva
Mantoo added that it would "breach the absolute prohibition of torture."
Heightened debate over death penalty
The decision to livestream the execution comes amid heightened debate in the United States over the death penalty following the botched lethal injection last week of a Tennessee woman who was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder.
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who → add → murder
The controversy has also flared in the run-up to the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, with polls indicating Trump's party could lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the U.S. Senate to the Democrats.
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party → flare → Democrats
The execution is scheduled to take place at the same sprawling military base where Hasan opened fire with a handgun in a medical facility.
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Hasan → schedule → facility
A military jury sentenced him to death after finding him guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
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him → sentence → murder
The shooting came weeks before Hasan, now 56, was scheduled to deploy with U.S. forces to Afghanistan.
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Hasan → come → Afghanistan
Hasan was left partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair from being shot by police during his arrest.
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Hasan → leave → arrest
The group Death Penalty Action, which opposes capital punishment, said Hasan's execution would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, which was carried out by hanging.
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which → oppose → hanging
The last known executions by U.S. military firing squads took place in 1945, the Death Penalty Information Center said.
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Center → know → 1945
At least five states have firing squads on the books, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
uncertain
states → have → Center
In 2025, South Carolina carried out the first such execution in the United States in 15 years.
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Carolina → carry → years
The Aporia
