EditThrowing Hegseth under the bus won’t help Trump
The Secretary for War’s execution live streaming proposal has added to the already long list of challenges faced by the Republican candidates in the midterms
On Thursday President Trump pulled the plug on the proposal by U.S. Secretary for War, Pete Hegseth, to livestream the firing squad execution of former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan due to be carried out on 3 December.
Dick Roche is a former Irish Minister for European Affairs and former Minister for the Environment. A former chairman of the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace, he has long argued for the abolition of the death penalty.
The former U.S. army Major Nidal Malik Hassan was found guilty by a general court-martial in August 2013 of murdering 13 people and attempting to kill 32 others during a mass shooting in at Fort Hood, Texas.
Describing himself as a ‘ mujahedeen’ and as a soldier who “switched sides” Hassan said and had carried out the shooting in 2009 to prevent U.S. soldiers from going to Afghanistan. During the court martial Hassan did not contest his guilt and offered to plead guilty. That offer was rejected as under U.S. Military law a judge may not accept a guilty plea when a death penalty is being sought.
Following the August 2013 decision Hassan’s case went through an automatic appeal process – a requirement when a death penalty is imposed. Following the appeal process a petition to review the case was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. In March 2025, the Supreme Court declined to review Hasan’s conviction. It took a further eighteen months for President Trump to issue the approval -required under the law governing military death sentences – for Hassan’s execution.
The Presidential approval came on 2 October, at the height of the controversy over the failed attempt by Tennessee to execute Christa Pike. Hasan’s execution is scheduled for 1 p.m. on 3 December. It will be carried out at Fort Hood, the military base where the 2009 mass shooting occurred. The date, time and location were chosen to mirror the 2009 attack, a decision which Pete Hegseth described as a “no-brainer.”
The initial reaction to the announcement about Hasan’s execution was relatively subdued. That changed following a radio interview on 8th October when Secretary Hegseth announced that the execution would be livestreamed. Hegseth explained that by livestreaming the execution, “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.”
Hegseth’s determination to turn the execution into a livestreamed ‘event’ drew immediate bipartisan political criticism.
While leaving a political rally on 9 October, Vice President JD Vance told reporters “I don’t know that (the livestreaming) is going to happen,” but “if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.” Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, told CBS News that in his view Hegseth’s proposals would be a “recruiting tool for future terrorists.” He also said he would not watch the live streaming of any execution and that he intended to convey Republican lawmakers’ concerns on the proposals to the White House.
On the Democrat side the livestreaming proposals attracted vigorous criticism. It was labelled ‘disgusting,’ ‘a mockery of our legal system,’ as creating “a barbaric spectacle,” and as providing terrorist recruiters with a platform to amplify an anti-American message.
Only one Member of the 535 members of the two chambers of Congress Andy Ogles (R. Tennessee) publicly endorsed the livestreaming idea.
Hegseth’s livestreaming idea was heavily criticised by civil society and human-rights organisations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Equal Justice Initiative, Amnesty International USA and the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers (NACDL) condemned the proposals as compounding the cruelty of the death penalty, incompatible with international human rights standards, a return to “spectacle violence in America,” and questioned the legal basis of the proposal.
Hegseth’s proposals came in for particular criticism from the Catholic Church. The President of the US Conference of Bishops described them as a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” Archbishop Broglio who oversees Catholic pastoral care of the U.S. Military questioned whether the U.S. wants “to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?” The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin condemned the proposal saying “it is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”
Opinion polling also demonstrated strong opposition amongst the American public. A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted between 9 and 13 October found that almost 80% of Americans opposed the livestreaming proposals. Opposition amongst Democrat voters was highest at 91%; 83% of Independent voters opposed the idea, amongst Republicans the figure was 64%. Even a majority – 54% -of self-identified MAGA voters opposed the idea.
An Economist/You Gov poll carried out between 10 and 12 October recorded 69% of those surveyed as opposed to livestreaming an execution; 18% either ‘strongly or somewhat favoured livestreaming,’ with 13% indicating they were “unsure.”
As public criticism of the livestreaming proposals grew, briefings from within the Army and the Trump administration made it clear that Hegseth ‘owned’ the proposals which were made without consulting the President, the White House or the Military authorities.
On 15 October President Trump announced the execution would not be livestreamed; as is the norm in U.S. executions the families of victims of the shooting would be allowed to witness the execution in person if they wish to do so.
Shortly after the President’s Truth Social announcement the Pentagon issued a statement that Secretary Hegseth and the President had spoken before the Truth Social announcement and that Secretary Hegseth “supports the President’s position and they are completely aligned.”
At this point the intention is that Hassan’s execution will be carried out on 3 December. It is possible that a federal court could issue a stay on the execution or that Hasan – who has indicated that he regards his execution as ‘martyrdom’ – could launch a further challenge.
What about Hegseth?
Hegseth’s nomination as Defence Secretary did not have an easy passage through Congress. His nomination ‘squeaked’ through the Armed Services Committee in January 2025 by one vote. The Senate was split 50-50 on his nomination. Three Republican Senators voting against his appointment. Hegseth’s appointment was made possible by the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Vance – the second time in U.S. history that a Vice President had to cast a tie breaking vote to get a Cabinet nomination ‘over the line’.
Hegseth’s standing amongst Republican members of the Senate and House of Representatives has not improved since his appointment. Even before his proposal for livestreaming the Hasan execution imploded there had been calls from within Republican ranks for his removal.
In September Senator Thom Tillis called on President Trump to fire Hegseth for “inept management.” Republican Congressman Thomas Massie went further in the same month introducing articles of impeachment against Hegseth in relation to operations in Iran.
Having fallen from President Trump’s favour neither Tillis nor Massie are candidates in the mid-term elections. However, both men and other Republican critics of the Defence Secretary will continue to serve in Congress until January 2026 and could become problematic for Hegseth during the ‘lame duck’ Congress period. Republicans who contest the elections but fail to be re-elected and who feel Hegseth’s actions did not help could be equally problematic.
In the near term, President Trump is unlikely to ‘dump’ Hegseth. While Trump’s decision to ban the livestreaming proposal is the first major public rupture between the two, the general view is that the relationship between both men remains positive.
However, Hegseth’s live streaming proposal has added to the already long list of challenges faced by the Republican candidates in the midterms. The controversy dominated the headlines as early voting was building momentum. It is unlikely to disappear from voters’ minds in the days left in the mid-term campaign. How much impact the issue will have on voting is difficult to say.
As things stand it is unlikely that President Trump will throw Hegseth ‘under the bus’ in the near term. However if the elections on 3 November go worse than expected, Hegseth’s barbaric intervention will have done nothing to secure his long term position. At a minimum it has put Hegseth firmly on the scapegoat list.
Caption: File photo. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (C), along with President Donald Trump (R), attend the dignified transfer of U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran conflict at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, USA, 22 July 2026. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
Updated: October 18, 2026 - 07:04
