Sen. Murphy blasts Hegseth plan to livestream Fort Hood gunman's execution

CNN posted a YouTube video on Oct. 9 titled "'Disgusting': Dem Sen. shocked by Hegseth plan to air execution." The channel's description says Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy called the Pentagon plan to livestream the Fort Hood gunman's firing-squad execution "disgusting" and "medieval," and asked Erin Burnett, "What, is he mimicking ISIS executions?"

Murphy reacted live on CNN's OutFront. According to the network and to HuffPost, he told host Erin Burnett he had not previously seen the report. "I actually hadn't seen that video. That's the first time that I'm learning he's going to televise it. I mean, that's disgusting," Murphy said. He continued: "I mean, I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions is medieval." He called the plan "absolutely extraordinary, galling" and asked, "No matter whether you support or oppose the death penalty, public hangings and executions? That's what America has become?"

The man scheduled to die is Nidal Hasan, the former Army major and psychiatrist who killed 13 people and injured more than 30 in the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood. He was found guilty in 2013 on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. Hasan is paraplegic, paralyzed from the waist down after being shot during the attack. Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle set the execution for Dec. 3, 2026, at 1 p.m. CST at Fort Hood. President Trump approved the method: an Army firing squad.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the livestream plan in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. He told Real America's Voice, "We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things." Speaking with Jack Posobiec on the same ship, Hegseth called the choice a "no-brainer" and said, "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." Army rules allow at least two media outlets to be present for an execution and that none have been broadcast live in the United States before.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis posted his reaction on X. "Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting," Tillis wrote. "Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America." Ned Price, who served as State Department spokesman in the Biden administration, wrote on X that a public livestream would create more "radicalized zealots" and pointed to the tactics of al-Qaida and ISIS. Conservative talk-show host Erick Erickson, who supports the death penalty, said the broadcast would hand Hasan "the platform for martyrdom he wants." Erickson noted that Hasan is confined to a wheelchair and warned that imagery of a firing squad killing a man who cannot stand would undermine public support for capital punishment.