Execution of Fort Hood terrorist will be live-streamed, Trump says he 'deserves' firing squad punishment

Nidal Hasan.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the December 3 execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan will be made public so the Americans can view the jihadist being put to death for his crimes. The Pentagon later added that Hasan's execution will be live-streamed.

Earlier this week, President Trump approved a military firing squad as the method of execution, the Pentagon revealed. Hasan's execution will be the first time the military has carried out an execution in 65 years and it will be the country's first public execution in 90 years, according to ABC News. 

Hegseth made the announcement during an interview Thursday with Real America's Voice and said the decision to use a firing squad for Hasan's method of capital punishment was a "no brainer." Hegseth said the firing squad would take place at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1 p.m. -- the same day and time Hasan carried out the savage crime in which he shot 13 to death and wounded 32 others in the 2009 mass shooting.

President Trump on Friday commented on the looming execution by firing squad while speaking to reporters. "Death penalty through firing squad,"Trump said, "and he deserves it."

In the interview with Real America's Voice, Hegseth called the mass shooting "a radical Islamist terror attack," saying he drew a distinction between how then-President Obama described the rampage: "workplace violence." Hasan screamed "Allahu Akbar" while firing at unarmed soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood and later pledged his support to the Taliban. 

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Hegseth continued, "because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things."

The Pentagon later said the execution would be available to the viewing public by live-streamed and said more details on how the livestream will work would be revealed as the execution date nears. Watch a portion of Hegseth's interview below.