JD Vance casts doubt on firing squad execution and says he will not watch it

US Vice-President JD Vance has cast doubt on the Pentagon's plans to livestream a firing squad execution of the Fort Hood shooter.

Talking with reporters, Vance expressed doubt that the December execution would move forward as planned, saying: "I don't know that that's actually going to happen".

He added, that "if it's through live stream, I'm not going to be watching it". Vance described the actions by former US Army major Nidal Hasan as "the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11".

Hasan fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at a base in Texas in 2009, injuring another 32. His execution by firing squad would be the first military execution in more than 60 years.

The Pentagon announced earlier this week it would execute Hasan on 3 December 2026 by firing squad.

Then on Thursday US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be livestreamed for the public.

"People need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things," said Hegseth.

The BBC has asked the White House whether Trump supported the plans.

Responding to a reporter's question on Friday about how the Pentagon's announcement meshes with his Catholic faith, Vance said: "I see these announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to happen."

The vice-president condemned Hasan's actions. Vance noted that Hasan, who was a US Army psychiatrist, was meant to treat soldiers for mental illness and other problems and "took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived".

The announcement of the livestream plans has been met with criticismfrom both political parties.

Republican Senator John Curtis pointed to Rome's history of a "bloody spectacle" corrupting people who watched them, warning that public executions erode civilisations "when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment".

Curtis said that Hegseth's plan "risks feeding that appetite" and urged him to reconsider.

"The victims deserve justice administered with solemnity. Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent," he said.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN that the idea was "disgusting" and reminiscent of executions carried out by the Islamic State group.

Georgia lawmaker Austin Scott, a Republican, said that he "absolutely" supports the death sentence, but that live-streaming executions "is what jihadists do. America is better than that".

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the decision to publicly livestream Hasan's execution, expressing "shock and great sorrow" in a statement.

The UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming it would be "tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture".

Hasan opened fire in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were awaiting check-ups and vaccines.

He later admitted in court that he was the gunman and apologised for "any mistakes". He said during his court-martial in 2013 that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the US military.

The killings on 5 November 2009 were the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American military base.

Military law requires that military execution be approved by the US president. It also requires appellate review, when a higher court inspects the decision and gives a final judgement on its legality to move forward.

While there were more than 2,700 executions across 17 countries last year, only two nations carried them out publicly. Eleven public executions were known to have been carried out in Iran in 2025 and another six in Afghanistan, according to Amnesty International.

When Hegseth told reporters on Thursday about plans to ensure the pulbic can watch the execution, he did not specify where or how live video of the execution would be shown.

A Pentagon spokesperson on Friday reiterated to the BBC that Hasan's execution "will be livestreamed," but said the government had no further details "to provide at this time".

The White House did not respond to an inquiry about whether it expected to show Hasan's planned execution on its social media channels.

The White House maintains official accounts and channels on the most notable and widely used online platforms that are capable of streaming live video, namely Meta, YouTube, TikTok and X. The White House also has an app that can live stream events.

President Trump's social media platform Truth Social does not have a live-stream video feature.

All of the platforms have prohibitions in place on violent images and videos, as well as those that show death or glorify or make a spectacle of violence.

Meta, owner of Instagram, Facebook and Threads, explicitly bans any live stream of capital punishment.

YouTube bans all "violent or gory content intended to shock or disgust viewers".

TikTok has a similar rule that bars "extremely graphic, violent, or disturbing content—especially when it could cause viewers emotional distress." That includes the "moment of someone's death" and "the shooting of an individual".

Both YouTube and TikTok make exceptions in instances of "public interest".

Asked if a live-stream of an execution qualifies for the exception if it is government-sanctioned , a TikTok spokeswoman said: "Regardless, I'd point you back to the not allowed section which reflects our approach."

The policy at X, which has loosened content moderation since billionaire Elon Musk took over the platform, prohibits content "glorifying" of violence. It will remove content depicting when a person dies will be removed if requested by certain parties.

Meta, YouTube and X did not respond to multiple BBC requests for comment on whether they would uphold their current policies in the event Hasan's execution is broadcast.