President Donald Trump on Saturday said he will make the final decision on whether to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.
The president’s latest comments to reporters follow several different statements he has made on the controversy in the past two days, including a comment Friday in which he said he “absolutely” approved of the livestream.
The following day, Trump suggested in comments to the press outside the White House that he hadn’t made a final decision on the matter.
“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,” the president said Saturday. “You have two thoughts. He’s a vicious killer. Killed 13 people in cold blood, wounded over 20. Some of those people will never have their lives back in a true sense. He was vicious. He was violent.”
Hasan is set to be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3 after he opened fire inside a crowded medical center for soldiers returning from or about to be deployed overseas, killing fourteen people, including an unborn baby, in one of the deadliest mass shootings at a military base in U.S. history. Hasan was a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist at the time. His execution is set to be the first military execution by firing squad in the U.S. since 1945.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Thursday the Pentagon would be livestreaming the execution by firing squad because “people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things.” Vice President JD Vance later said he didn’t know if the livestream was “actually going to happen,” and revealed he wouldn’t be watching. Some critics opposed the announcement, arguing that “public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do.”
Trump’s latest comments on the affair come after he offered contradictory assessments of the situation in various remarks on Friday.
At one point that day, the president said he “absolutely” approved the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the Fort Hood shooter’s execution. At another point, Trump told reporters the White House would have to “make a determination” about livestreaming the firing squad execution, but said Hasan is “totally nuts, so I really don’t care how he goes.”
VANCE ACCUSES MICROSOFT OF FRAUD AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLAMPS DOWN ON H-1B VISA ABUSE
In another interview with CNY Central on Friday, Trump said he “wasn’t involved in that decision” to livestream the execution.
“They want to do that because they want to set an example. I wasn’t involved in that decision, but I understand the decision. He went in, he 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,” Trump said. “So I guess they want to have it serve as an example, and I understand that very well.”
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
