US President Donald Trump has cancelled plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. 

The announcement reverses an initiative from the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which had provoked sharp criticism at home and abroad.

Trump made the announcement on Thursday via Truth Social, saying Hasan “will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”

He said the execution remains set for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, and that immediate family members of the victims will be allowed to witness it in person. He still argued that streaming it could have been a strong deterrent, showing the world how America deals with terrorists, but conceded that many good and well-meaning people would rather not watch.

Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the 2009 attack on the Texas base. If carried out, his execution would be the first by a US military firing squad since 1945.

The controversy began last week when Hegseth said Hasan would face a firing squad of soldiers and that the Pentagon would make sure people could watch, later confirming the plan was to livestream it.

The backlash was broad. Democratic and Republican politicians objected, along with the Catholic Church, the United Nations and dozens of retired US military officers, who warned against broadcasting the event in an open letter. Critics also raised concerns that it could feed Hasan’s stated desire for martyrdom and fuel radicalisation. Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch if the stream went ahead. A new Ipsos poll found roughly eight in ten Americans opposed the idea, and Trump’s reversal came just hours after its release.

CNN reported earlier in the week that the president and his advisers were weighing whether to drop the livestream, and that Trump had remarked privately that he did not initially know Hasan was paralysed from the waist down. Officials told the network he remains firmly behind the decision to execute Hasan by firing squad, a method Hegseth recommended and Trump approved.