Cohen: Rebuke Spicer for remarks
WASHINGTON – Rep. Steve Cohen has called on President Donald Trump to admonish or even fire White House press secretary Sean Spicer for incorrectly claiming that German dictator Adolph Hitler did not use chemical weapons on his own people.
“Holocaust centers”!Fake news or ignorance or Holocaust denier? @realDonaldTrump please at least admonish Spicer &correct or if not FIRE him,” the Memphis Democrat, who is Jewish, wrote late Tuesday night on Twitter.
Spicer touched off a torrent of global criticism on Tuesday when he suggested Syrian President Bashar Assad had committed acts worse than Hitler.
“You had a ... someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink ... to using chemical weapons,” Spicer said during a White House press briefing. “You have to, if you’re Russia, ask yourself, is this a country and a regime you want to align yourself with?”
Later asked to explain, Spicer said he meant to say that Hitler had not used chemical weapons in battlefield situations as Assad did last week.
Millions of people died during the Holocaust, with gas chambers being one of the primary ways the Nazis killed the victims. Tens of thousands of the victims were German.
Critics also slammed Spicer for using the term “Holocaust center” instead of concentration camp.
Spicer has apologized for his comments, calling them “inappropriate and insensitive.”
Rep. David Kustoff, a Germantown Republican, took issue with Spicer’s remarks but did not call for him to be punished.
“Sean Spicer should not have attempted to compare the methods of warfare used by the Nazis in World War II and the Assad regime today,” Kustoff, who is Jewish, said in a statement. “It is important to remember that Hitler did in fact use chemical weapons to murder 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, as well as millions of other innocent individuals. I am glad Mr. Spicer is taking steps to apologize and clear up his inaccurate comments.”
Reach Michael Collins at 703-8548927, at mcollins2@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @mcollinsNEWS.