Last week, in news almost too shocking to believe, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that an execution would be livestreamed for the American people to view.
Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, was sentenced to death in 2013 and has been on death row since.
In an interview with Real America’s Voice, Hegseth said Hasan would be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3, and that it would be a public event. A Defense Department spokesperson later confirmed the execution would be livestreamed.
Hegseth said, “It was a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and so he’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
Initially, President Donald Trump said he approved the plan, but Axios’ Marc Caputo reported Monday that Trump has “privately shared misgivings about livestreaming” the execution. He has reportedly been flooded with “negative input” about the plan. One source told Caputo that Trump “didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic” about the idea.
Meanwhile, CBS News’ Robert Costa conducted an insightful interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who seemed to be against televising an execution.
“There are colleagues that have concerns,” Johnson said. “The concern would be that you would create a video that would be a recruiting tool for future terrorists. We got to think through the policy implications of all that.”
Johnson said he would not watch a televised execution. Vice President JD Vance said the same.
Johnson told Costa, “My role as the leader of the legislative branch is to share my opinion. It’s outside of my lane, of course, but I need to tell the White House what some of my colleagues think about that, and not everybody’s in favor of the idea.”
Johnson also told Costa that he plans to remain the House GOP leader even if Republicans lose control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections.
Johnson said, “In the unlikely scenario where we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would ask me to continue leading this conference, even if we have a divided government.”
Johnson shot down rumors he would retire if the Republicans lost control of the House and then added, “If, heaven forbid, we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would call upon me to continue to lead the conference in divided government.”
Katie Zacharia began her new job as White House press secretary Monday. She is scheduled to hold her first press briefing this morning at 9:30 Eastern time.
USA Today’s Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy writes, “Zacharia is assuming the role as one of the most visible members of the administration just three weeks ahead of the crucial Nov. 3 midterm elections. She’s set to serve as a key defender of Trump as his poll numbers have dropped to historic lows amid an unpopular war and rise in gas prices. The president frequently complains that his accomplishments have not adequately been conveyed to the American people amid his feuds with members of the media.”
As I wrote in Monday’s newsletter, Zacharia was a communications adviser for the company that runs Trump’s social media site, Truth Social. In addition, she briefly worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and has been a frequent guest on cable news, most notably Fox News.
Zacharia is coming into the job at a particularly delicate time in the relationship between the White House and the press. She is also following Karoline Leavitt, who was respected by Trump and the administration for her loyal defense of the president and his policies and her willingness to verbally tangle with the media.
On Oct. 4, The New York Times published this story: “An Outrage in 2019. No Problem in 2026. Trump Has Moved the Ethical Line.” The story’s main photo was of a building at the entrance to the Trump National Doral Miami golf club.
On Monday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Look what The New York Times did to my beautiful Doral! They doctored the photo. They artificially put mold all over the building when referring to it in a story!”
Then he posted two photos side by side. The photo on the left was the one the Times published. Trump’s photo, on the right, was clearly much whiter and brighter.
Not long after Trump’s post, the Times put out a statement on social media that said, “President Trump has repeatedly made the false claim that The Times published a doctored image of his private golf club, Trump National Doral in Miami. The image used in our report is not doctored. It was taken by a Times photographer in 2020 and accompanies our report about President Trump walking back his decision in 2019 to host the G7 summit at Doral.”
Director Aaron Sorkin poses for photographers upon arrival at the gala screening for the film ‘The Social Reckoning’ in London last month. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
In the latest episode of the podcast “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace,” the MS NOW host talked with writer and director Aaron Sorkin, who compared President Donald Trump to Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Sorkin’s new film, “The Social Reckoning,” which he wrote and directed, is a sequel to 2010’s “The Social Network,” which he also wrote. “The Social Network” is a dramatized film based on the origins of Facebook. “The Social Reckoning” is a drama based on the whistleblower account that exposed the potential harms caused by the social media company.
During their conversation, Wallace said, “Like Trump is not mad at Fox News or whatever the other networks are. He’s mad at The New York Times and he’s mad at CNN because he covets favorable coverage in institutions with standards. That’s why he’s so obsessed. If Fox were enough, he wouldn’t ban the others.”
Sorkin said in response, “He is obsessed with favorable coverage in the outlets with standards, which is the ultimate sort of mind(expletive) for all of us. He is obsessed with favorable coverage. It’s deeper and bigger than that. I don’t really like to speculate on what’s going on inside someone’s head. I don’t want to speculate on what’s going on inside Mark Zuckerberg’s head. But what I felt like learning everything that I had learned was that Mark felt Mark doesn’t quite fit into the social life in college. I can identify with that. He feels like there’s a cool kids table and he’s not allowed to sit on it. So he invents his own cool kids table and he’s going to be the mayor of that. I feel like much of the country is suffering from this syndrome of America has a cool kids table and I’m not allowed at it, including and especially Trump.”
Count Dan Levy, co-creator and star of the popular comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” among those offended by Shane Gillis’ monologue on last Saturday’s “Saturday Night Live.”
During his notably unfunny monologue, Gillis said, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t realize women just dressed like whores now. Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe it.”
In an Instagram reel, Levy said, “Women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there.”
Levy went on to say, “By the way, I’ve seen more men’s nipples at the gym than I’ve ever seen women showing their bodies off. I’m speechless that something like that can exist on live national television.”
Levy then said more men needed to stand up in opposition to the type of comment made by Gillis, adding, “It’s complacency that has created the environment with which women are sexually assaulted and it’s a conversation opposed to a crime. Men need to be defending women more. This is not a women’s issue, this is an everybody issue. Because the more that men objectify women in the media, the more that other men see them as objects and treat them as objects. They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men.”
Gillis also stepped into some trouble by accidentally blurting out the F-word during a sketch — a mistake he apologized for at the end of the show.
What’s curious is this is the third time Gillis has hosted “SNL,” even though he was hired to be a cast member in 2019 and then fired just five days later after a clip of him using a racial slur on a podcast resurfaced.
“SNL” has welcomed him back with open arms despite the fact that he hasn’t been that good during his appearances. With so much backlash to his monologue, as well as his use of the F-word, it will be interesting to see if he is invited back anytime soon.
Be sure to check out the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast.” My guest is Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. We talk about her nearly 30 years with Fox News, the difference between her reporting and Fox’s opinion shows and her extremely candid thoughts on press freedom at a Pentagon now run by her former Fox colleague, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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