Trump calls off firing squad livestream

US President Donald Trump cancels plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan.

The full report

US President Donald Trump has cancelled plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a convicted military base shooter. The execution is scheduled to take place on December 3 at Fort Hood in Texas, where Hasan killed 13 people in 2009.

The move to livestream the execution was widely opposed at home and abroad, prompting outrage from US Democratic and Republican politicians, the Catholic Church, rights groups, and the United Nations. Trump indicated that he did not personally oppose the streaming plan, but many people would rather not watch the execution.

The US president stated that Hasan 'will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.' However, the execution could still be viewed in person by the immediate family of the victims if they wanted to do so.

The cancellation is a blow to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is already under fire over the stalemated Iran war and its fallout, which are weighing on the Republican Party's chances in upcoming midterm elections.

Hasan's execution is set to be the first by a US military firing squad since 1945. The plan to livestream the execution was confirmed by Hegseth last week, who stated that 'we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public.'