SPICER’S LATEST BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Adolf Hitler “didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons” — then tried to dig himself out of the hole, only making things worse.
WHAT HE SAID INITIALLY
“We didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II. You know, you had a, you know, someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons. So you have to if you’re Russia, ask yourself: Is this a country that you, and a regime, that you want to align yourself with? You have previously signed onto international agreements, rightfully acknowledging that the use of chemical weapons should be out of bounds by every country.”
ASKED TO CLARIFY HIS REMARKS, SPICER SAID
“I think when you come to sarin gas, there was no — he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing. I mean, there was clearly, I understand your point, thank you. Thank you, I appreciate that. There was not in the, he brought them into the Holocaust centre, I understand that. What I am saying in the way that Assad used them, where he went into towns, dropped them down to innocent, into the middle of towns, it was brought — so the use of it. And I appreciate the clarification there. That was not the intent.”
AFTER THE BRIEFING, SPICER EMAILED THIS STATEMENT
“In no way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust. I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centres. Any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable.”
THE REACTION
The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect called on Trump to fire Spicer. Steven Goldstein, the executive director, said that “on Passover no less,” Spicer had “engaged in Holocaust denial, the most offensive form of fake news imaginable, by denying Hitler gassed millions of Jews to death. Spicer’s statement is the most evil slur upon a group of people we have ever heard from a White House press secretary.”
THE FINAL APOLOGY
In an interview later with CNN, Spicer apologized for the “insensitive” comments. He said he had made “an inappropriate, insensitive reference to the Holocaust.” He said there was no comparison and “it was a mistake to do that.” He added, “It was my blunder.”