White House press secretary Sean Spicer quickly apologized Tuesday for suggesting Syrian President Bashar al-Bassad was worse than Adolf Hitler and incorrectly stating Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War II.
"I was obviously trying to make a point about the heinous acts that Assad had made against his own people last week, using chemical weapons and gas – frankly, I mistakenly made an inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust, for which there is no comparison," Spicer told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. "And for that I apologize. It was a mistake to do that."
Spicer in his daily press briefing was attempting to degrade Russia's alliance with Syria and Assad following the chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed 85 and injured hundreds.
"You had someone who was as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons," he said in his presser. "So you have to, if you are Russia, ask yourself is this a country that you and a regime that you want to align yourself with."
Hitler did not use chemical weapons on the battlefield. But Hitler and the Nazis used gas chambers to kill at least 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, at concentration camps.
Spicer backtracked when asked to clarify his comments by a reporter, but the intense backlash had already started.
Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Spicer should be fired for his comments.
Spicer told Blitzer he was "aware" gas chambers were used during the Holocaust and later said he should have "stayed focused" on Assad. He asked people to forgive him for his "mistake."
"My goal now and then is to stay focused on Assad, and I should have," he said. "I realized that I had made a mistake, and I didn't want to be a distraction to the president's agenda."
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