Washington DC [US], October 10 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) described the death penalty as "a very worthy way" of executing former US Army Major Nidal Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, saying he did not care how the convicted shooter was executed as long as he was put to death.
When asked whether he wanted Hasan's execution to be live-streamed and whether he was concerned that the video could be used as propaganda to radicalise others, Trump said the decision would be made by the authorities but confirmed that Hasan would be executed by firing squad.
"Well, they'll make a determination about that, but he will be killed. He will be, through firing squad. He killed 13, 14 people, badly wounded 20-some-odd people, and he's totally nuts. So, I really don't care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think that the death penalty is a very worthy way of going," Trump told reporters outside the White House before heading to Syracuse, New York, for the midterm election campaign.
When reporters asked whether he would watch the execution, Trump described Hasan as one of the worst killers.
"He's one of the worst killers. He walked into a room, he started killing everybody," Trump said.
The remarks come after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be carried out by a firing squad of soldiers at Fort Hood on December 3 at 1 pm, the same time the 2009 attack took place.
Speaking to Real America's Voice on Thursday (local time), Hegseth described the decision as a "no-brainer" and said the execution would be held at the military installation where Hasan carried out the attack.
"No-brainer. Execution by firing squad. Army major betrays his country, radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood. Of course we're going to do it at Fort Hood. We're going to do it on a Thursday. We're going to do it at 1:00, which is when he did it. And it's going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad," Hegseth said.
He also said the execution would be made public so people could understand the consequences of such attacks.
"We haven't done this since WWII…He's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be. And we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public because people need to understand that what this is, there's serious consequences for these types of things," Hegseth said.
According to Axios, the US has not held a public execution in 90 years. The Pentagon says the execution will be livestreamed but did not name the platform, Axios reported. The Department of Defence declined to comment on Hegseth’s remarks, and it remains unclear whether the execution will be open to spectators, broadcast, or shown to select individuals.
It would be the first US military execution since 1961. The last by firing squad was in 1945, when Pvt Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion in France, according to NPR, as cited by Axios. Only Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah authorise the method. The last public execution in the US was in 1936, when Rainey Bethea was hanged in Kentucky.
Earlier this week, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a post on X, “US War Secretary Pete Hegseth has recommended, and President Donald J Trump has approved, death by US Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan.”
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” he added.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the November 5, 2009 shooting at a medical building at Fort Hood. Twelve of those killed were soldiers, and one was a civilian. A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013. Civilian police officers shot Hasan during the attack, leaving him partially paralysed.
During his court-martial, Hasan represented himself, called no witnesses and did not contest the charges.
Prosecutors argued that the attack was inspired by Al-Qaeda. Evidence presented during Hasan's court-martial showed that he opposed US military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and had exchanged online communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric linked to Al-Qaeda who was later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen. (ANI)
"One of the worst killers": Trump calls death penalty "very worthy way" to execute Fort Hood shooter
