Americanswers! Will Trump really livestream a firing squad execution?

Americast

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Monday, 12 October 2026 - 30 minutes

How has US defence secretary Pete Hegseth justified the decision to livestream the execution of former US soldier, Nidal Hassan by firing squad at the Fort Hood military base - where he killed 13 unarmed US soldiers - in 2009? Justin, Sarah, Anthony and Marianna are back with Matt Chorley to answer your questions on the case and whether Hegseth’s plan will actually go ahead after public scepticism by vice president JD Vance. President Trump is reportedly weighing up the decision, with other Republicans also voicing concerns. And, Donald Trump has announced a deal to buy diesel from Russia and called for Ukraine to elect a new leader to replace Zelensky. The deal has sparked outrage from many US allies and highlights the need for Republicans to lower the price of diesel ahead of the midterm elections. Will the deal finally cause mainstream Republicans to break with the president?Plus, the “energy ceasefire” that Trump announced over the weekend between Russia and Ukraine already appears broken after Russian strikes on Ukrainian power plants. The deal has sparked online conspiracy theories surrounding data centres and so-called Russian bot farms. How does it relate to the upcoming midterm elections?HOSTS
- Sarah Smith, US North America Editor
- Justin Webb, BBC Radio 4 Presenter
- Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
- Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Senior CorrespondentGET IN TOUCH:
- Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
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- Or use #AmericastThis episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Nik Sindle. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
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