Family members and troops at the Nov. 10, 2009 Fort Hood memorial service
Family members and troops attend the Nov. 10, 2009, memorial service honoring the victims of the Fort Hood shooting (file photo). Photo: U.S. Army, Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

President Donald Trump has put the matter of how the execution of Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Hasan will be viewed by the world to rest. The convicted murderer will be executed by firing squad on December 3 as scheduled. The execution will not be streamed, but the families of the murdered will be able to attend and watch him die if they so desire.

"Nidal Hasan will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday. "That said, the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!"

The move reverses the announcement of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week that the execution of Hasan would be carried out by a firing squad of soldiers and that people would be able to watch it, NBC News reported. Trump said that streaming it "might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan."

Hasan was an Army major and a psychiatrist who shot and killed 13 people and wounded 32 others at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas on November 5, 2009. He was sentenced to death by an Army court-martial in 2013.

It will be the first execution carried out by the U.S. military since that of Army Pvt. John Bennett, who was hanged in 1961. It will also be the first military firing squad execution since Pvt. Eddie Slovik was put to death in 1945, NBC News reported.

The decision places the final act of the capital sentence where it belongs: with the families of the 13 people killed on that base. They have waited since 2009 for the sentence to be carried out. They will have the option of being in the room for the execution under the order signed by Trump.

Hasan was found guilty of carrying out a deadly terrorist attack on a U.S. military installation on American soil. That was the sentence handed down to him in 2013 and that is the sentence that is now being carried out. On Dec. 3, the families of the slain will receive the justice they were promised.