Trump's week in review: $490M in tax fraud uncovered; USCIS to speed up termination of refugee status

2. Trump cancels plan to livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter

In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said he was walking back his administration's plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, who carried out a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. As the president explained, Hasan “killed 13 people, including a pregnant soldier, who died, along with her unborn son, and injured, very seriously, 32 more innocent people.”

While he repeated his belief that “streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” Trump acknowledged that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.” The president said, “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”

“That said, the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims if they so choose,” he concluded.

Trump’s reversal comes amid criticism from many religious and political leaders, including U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President Archbishop Paul Coakley, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Coakley said a livestreamed execution would amount to “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death,” while Rowe called it “reprehensible in the extreme.”

Perkins wrote on Facebook that while he sees a "biblical foundation" for capital punishment, that doesn't mean "executions should become public spectacles."

The plan did have supporters, including Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. Jeffress argued that a livestreamed execution would be consistent with Genesis 9:6.

“The more people that can see that truth illustrated through a public execution, the better,” he said.