Trump Drops Live Broadcast Plan for Firing Squad Execution Amid Midterm Push

[Anchor]

U.S. President Donald Trump has recently been repeatedly throwing out provocative issues, such as the death penalty and executions by firing squad. This appears to be aimed at rallying his hardline conservative base ahead of the midterm elections, and he even considered broadcasting an execution by firing squad live before eventually withdrawing the plan.

Our Washington correspondent, Jeon Byeong-nam, has more.

[Reporter]

Returning to the White House in the early hours after finishing a three-day, two-night midterm campaign tour across four states including Alaska and Nevada, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a luncheon for invited police officers, firefighters, and border patrol agents during the day, where he suddenly brought up the topic of the death penalty.

He stated that anyone who kills a police officer or firefighter should be sentenced to death.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (local time October 15): A criminal who kills a firefighter shot while climbing a ladder serves only about three months in prison. They should face the death penalty, Todd (the Attorney General), you got that?]

Seemingly taken aback, the attendees failed to react immediately before hesitantly offering applause.

During a campaign speech in Arizona a day earlier, President Trump remarked that the leakers of military operation information regarding Iran should be executed by firing squad.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (local time October 14): I think the leakers should be shot by a firing squad. To me, they are no better than human scum.]

These remarks are interpreted as an attempt to project provocative, hardline messages as the crisis of a potential defeat in the midterm elections intensifies.

In fact, President Trump's approval rating has plummeted to 36%, the lowest across both his first and second terms, even in a poll by the pro-Republican Fox News.

Amidst this situation, President Trump considered broadcasting live the execution by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan, the perpetrator of the 2009 U.S. military base shooting, but ultimately withdrew the plan.

The decision came immediately after the release of poll results by outlets like the Washington Post showing that opposition to the live broadcast reached 80 percent.

Ultimately, this decision is also interpreted as an intent to avoid a political backlash with less than 20 days remaining until the midterm elections.

However, the execution by a U.S. military firing squad is still scheduled to be carried out as planned on December 3.

It will be the first execution by firing squad conducted by the U.S. military since World War II.

(Camera Reporter: Oh Jung-shik, Video Editing: Cho Mu-hwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.