White House press secretary Sean Spicer drew backlash during a press conference on Tuesday (April 11), when he compared President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to Hitler, and incorrectly saying that Hitler didn't use chemical weapons. Spicer was trying to say that Assad was far worse than Hitler for using what is believed to be sarin gas to kill civilians last week.
Spicer told the press, “We didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II. You know, you had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons." He then clarified his comments, saying, “I think when you come to sarin gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing.”
After gaining backlash online, Spicer later told the media, “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 centers. Any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable.”
Check out the full clip above.
