A GOP operative predicted on Monday that President Donald Trump is likely to back down from defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest “terrible idea.”
Last week, Hegseth announced that the U.S. planned to execute Nidal Hasan, who shot and killed 13 service members in Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 and wounded more than 30 others, by firing squad and livestream the execution.Trump told reporters at the White House that he would “make a decision” about the execution, but “absolutely” supported the idea of livestreaming it.
Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, slammed the idea on CNN’s “The Arena.”
“Look, I think it’s a stupid idea. It’s terrible. It even violates the current U.S. Code of military justice,” Short said. “Taking it a step further … it would certainly help recruitment for our enemies. Perhaps it would also help with potential lone wolves who say, ‘Hey, if I get to have a public execution,’ it would only encourage that sort of activity. I would imagine that the president ultimately doesn’t go through with this, but it’s a terrible idea.”
“The reality is that … if we were actually swift in our justice, he would have been executed long before now,” Short continued. “But I believe he’s now in a wheelchair. So the optics, even seeing that, is something I think doesn’t accomplish what even Pete Hegseth thought he might be accomplishing by this. I think it’s an awful idea. I would imagine that the president ends up backtracking on this.”
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