Self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the firing squad execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, set for Dec. 3, would be live streamed set off an uproar on both sides of the aisle in Washington yesterday, even among some who support the death penalty. Hasan is the Fort Hood shooter who killed 13 people and wounded another 32 in 2009, convicted in 2013.

“I absolutely support the sentence of death, but live-streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that,” Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, posted on X Friday morning.

Variations on this judgment are pouring forth from all quarters, especially members of Congressional military oversight committees, and of course, Democrats, as listed below.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance cast doubt as to whether the live stream will actually happen or not. “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance told reporters in Cincinnati, reported Reuters. Vance added that if a livestream of the execution scheduled for December 3 occurs, “I’m not going to be watching it.” Reuters surmises that Vance’s comments raise questions about the extent of opposition within President Donald Trump’s administration to the Pentagon’s plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that the planned livestream is “disturbing and makes a mockery of our legal system.” Smith added: “We are a democratic country and should take the rule of law seriously, not turn it into a spectacle.”