Mike Johnson warns livestream execution could be ‘a recruiting tool for future terrorists’
Por Joe Sommerlad — – World RSS Feed
Mike Johnson warns livestream execution could be ‘a recruiting tool for future terrorists’
House speaker becomes latest conservative to voice disquiet over plan to broadcast killing of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December: ‘We’ve got to think through the policy implications’
Joe Sommerlad Tuesday 13 October 2026 10:16 BST
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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has added his voice to building concerns about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement last week that the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed.
Hasan, 56, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others during a rampage at the sprawling military base in Killeen, Texas, in 2009 and will be put to death by firing squad on December 3.
However, speaking to CBS News, Johnson said: “The concern would be that you would create a video that would be a recruiting tool for future terrorists. We’ve got to think through the policy implications of all that.”
The speaker said he would not watch the broadcast and admitted he was not alone in feeling disquiet. “There are colleagues who have concerns,” he said.
If the livestream goes ahead, it will mark the first public execution in the U.S. since the hanging of rapist Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky, on August 14, 1936 – and the first time the U.S. military has put a soldier to death since Private John A Bennett was given the death penalty on April 13, 1961 for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria.
open image in galleryPresident Donald Trump was asked about Hegseth’s announcement at the White House Saturday and told reporters: “There are two thoughts: don’t show it and show it.
“Cause 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 I’ll make a decision.
“He will be killed. He will be, through firing squad. I really don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.”
Vice President JD Vance is the most senior member of the Trump administration to have expressed unease at the situation, commenting last week: “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen. If it’s through livestream, I’m not going to be watching it.”
Other Capitol Hill Republicans to have taken exception include Georgia Rep. Austin Scott, who said that such practice “is what jihadists do” and outgoing North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who called it “beyond disgusting” before drawing a similar parallel.
open image in gallery“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” Tillis said. “It should not be happening in America.”
Utah Sen. John Curtis has meanwhile compared the prospect to the gory “entertainment” on offer at the Coliseum in Ancient Rome, where gladiators fought to the death and Christians were fed to the lions.
“Seneca warned that Rome’s bloody spectacles corrupted the people who watched them,” he said. “A civilisation erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment.
“Secretary Hegseth’s plan to livestream the Fort Hood execution risks feeding that appetite. The victims deserve justice administered with solemnity. Broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent.”
Democrats have also expressed outrage, with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed telling MS NOW last week: “Under Trump and Hegseth, you’re seeing extremes that you never would have imagined.
“The idea that you want to livestream somebody’s death for children to watch is truly extreme… I don’t want that to be politics as usual.”
More about
Mike JohnsonPete Hegsethfort hoodDonald TrumpJD Vance
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