Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy combat pilot and astronaut, called Friday for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be “removed immediately,” arguing in a post on X that the Pentagon chief’s plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan places the United States alongside regimes it routinely condemns. The Arizona Democrat wrote that a public execution is “the kind of thing Iran and the Taliban do,” and asked whether that is “who we want to be associated with.”
The Pentagon’s Livestream Announcement
Kelly’s post followed the announcement this week that the Pentagon will broadcast the Army’s firing squad execution of Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009. According to Reuters, the broadcast would be unprecedented for a U.S. execution, and Hasan is set to become the first person executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945. A Pentagon official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters, “It will be livestreamed. Details will follow.” Hegseth confirmed the plan in a post on X.
What Hegseth Said About the Execution
The execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, and Hegseth, who championed the push to execute Hasan by firing squad, has defended both the location and the decision to make it public. He said choosing a Thursday at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood, the approximate time, day and place of the 2009 shooting, was a “no-brainer.” “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public. Because people need to understand that … there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said. Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests, he answered: “Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3.”
Kelly’s Full Statement
Kelly responded Friday at 10:42 a.m. In his post, he wrote the following in full:
“Pete Hegseth announced that the Department of Defense would publicly execute Nidal Hasan and live stream the execution. There is no doubt that Nidal Hasan is a murderer who took the lives of 13 people and injured dozens. He should face justice for that. But a public execution? Here in the United States? It’s the kind of thing Iran and the Taliban do. Is this who we want to be associated with? Pete Hegseth’s campaign of “maximum lethality” and his comments about “killing people” and now his desire to publicly execute a prisoner indicate to me that his expiration date in this job has long passed. He should be removed immediately. And this administration needs to reevaluate its priorities. How about they trade glorifying violence for solving some problems and delivering for the American people? We need to be reminded of the nation we can be at our best. As President Ronald Reagan said “compassion, vision, and a fundamental sense of decency are the hallmarks of our national character.” That is not what we’ve seen from this President and his administration. We need to find that again.”
Justice Without the Spectacle
Kelly did not dispute Hasan’s guilt. He described Hasan as “a murderer who took the lives of 13 people and injured dozens” and said he “should face justice for that.” His objection was to the method of delivering it. A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after convicting him on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. Under military law, a president must approve a firing squad execution, and Trump did so on Hegseth’s recommendation, the Pentagon said Monday. The White House declined to say whether Trump supports the livestreaming and referred questions to the Pentagon.
Legal Experts Question the Livestream
Legal and historical experts have described the plan as highly unusual. Eugene Fidell, a military law expert who lectures at Yale Law School, said it would be “extremely, extremely strange” to livestream the event and noted that, as far as he knew, no U.S. execution has been livestreamed or televised. He added that Hasan would need to sue in federal court to block a public display. Jonathan Lurie, a historian of military justice, said there are no compelling reasons to make the execution public, asking: “What’s the point of it? Who would want to see that?” Public executions are now rare worldwide. Among the countries known to conduct them in recent years are Iran and Taliban-run Afghanistan, the two governments Kelly named in his post.
A Rare Break With a Dark Chapter of U.S. History
The last legally sanctioned public execution in the United States took place in 1936, death penalty experts told Reuters, when thousands watched the hanging of a young Black man convicted of raping a white woman. Extrajudicial lynchings, often carried out by white mobs targeting Black Americans, were public spectacles well into the 20th century. The debate over the plan also comes amid heightened scrutiny of capital punishment after Tennessee’s failed attempt last week to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection, which left her alive but hospitalized.
Kelly’s Long Record Against Hegseth
Friday’s post is the latest in a long run of public criticism from Kelly. In January 2025, ahead of Hegseth’s confirmation vote, Kelly delivered a Senate floor speech opposing “the most unprepared nominee to lead the Department of Defense that has ever been put forward,” and asked his colleagues, “Are you sure you trust him with this job?” His office published the speech on his official Senate website. Kelly later called on Hegseth to resign over the Signal group chat controversy, saying in a statement that “for the safety of our servicemembers and our country, Secretary Hegseth needs to resign.”
The “Illegal Orders” Video and the Censure
The feud between the two men escalated sharply after Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers released a video in November 2025 reminding service members that they can refuse illegal orders. The Pentagon opened an investigation, and on January 5 Hegseth announced a formal censure letter and a proceeding to reduce Kelly’s retirement rank and pay, calling the video “reckless and seditious.” Hegseth said that Kelly’s “status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability.” Kelly answered that “if Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it.”
Senate Colleagues Rally Behind Kelly
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, condemned the action in a statement posted on his official website, saying it was “an affront to all retired servicemembers and no veteran should have their speech chilled.” Reed added that “the entire caucus is united behind Senator Kelly.” Kelly filed a federal lawsuit in January arguing that the Pentagon’s actions violated the First Amendment and the constitutional protections for legislators.
A Federal Judge Sides With Kelly
On February 12, Senior Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon from lowering Kelly’s retirement rank while the case proceeds. Leon found that Kelly was likely to succeed on the merits and wrote that Hegseth and the other defendants had “trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms.” Kelly said the ruling “made clear that Pete Hegseth violated the constitution when he tried to punish me for something I said.” Hegseth responded that the ruling “will be immediately appealed.”
The Impeachment Push
In mid-September, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., forced the issue to the House floor with a resolution containing eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. The articles covered the conduct of the war with Iran, deadly strikes on suspected drug boats, and, in Article VI, Hegseth’s effort to demote Kelly, which Massie’s resolution said “weaponized the Department of Defense to retaliate against and intimidate Senator Mark Kelly.” Speaker Mike Johnson sent House members home a day early for a seven-week recess, delaying any vote until after the midterm elections. Kelly criticized the move and said he was not surprised Massie had acted, only that Hegseth had not already been fired, calling him “just fundamentally, on so many levels, unqualified for this job.” Johnson said the early recess was unrelated and called the impeachment effort “a stunt.”
What Comes Next
With Congress in recess until after the November midterms, no vote on Hegseth’s status is expected before the December 3 execution date. Kelly’s post leaves the administration facing a question about whether the Pentagon should broadcast an execution in a country that has not televised one in modern history. The post also adds to a standoff between Kelly and Hegseth that is still moving through both the courts and Congress. Hasan, now 56, was left partially paralyzed after being shot by police during his arrest, and his case remains subject to review in the military appeals courts, with the Pentagon’s plans for December 3 unchanged as of Friday.