Vance skeptical Fort Hood firing squad livestream will happen

Vice President JD Vance broke with top Trump administration officials Friday by casting doubt on whether the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, scheduled for early December, will actually be livestreamed.

Vance’s comments came during a return trip to his hometown of Cincinnati to vote early in the 2026 midterm elections. The vice president is a devout Catholic, and, when asked how the livestreaming of the execution squares with his faith, he said that he doesn’t “know if that’s actually going to happen.”

President Donald Trump signed off on Hasan’s execution earlier this week, but War Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Thursday that the event would be televised, drawing condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans both inside and outside of government.

“What I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11,” Vance told reporters on Friday. “The people that he was meant to treat, the Army soldiers that he was meant to treat for mental illness and other problems, he took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived.”

He added that if it is available to watch, he won’t be tuning in.

“Now that said, I mean, look, if it’s through livestream, I’m not going to be watching it,” he added.

Laura Loomer, a conservative activist and staunch Trump ally, took issue with Vance’s comments.

“Why wouldn’t the Vice President want to watch the live-streamed execution of an Islamic terrorist who murdered US Service members?” Loomer wrote on X. “Watching the execution of a jihadist who killed American soldiers is peak patriotism.”

Vance’s remarks followed a sharp condemnation earlier in the day from Archbishop Paul Coakley, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONDEMN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PLAN TO LIVESTREAM EXECUTION OF FORT HOOD SHOOTER

“It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hassan. Our God is the God of life,” Coakley wrote in a statement. “In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (Romans 12:17).”

On Thursday, Hegseth said that the Pentagon would livestream the event because “people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”

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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]