Press Secretary Sean Spicer caught serious flack from notable Democrats on Tuesday for showing questionable knowledge of the Holocaust.
Spicer had said that "someone as despicable as Hitler... didn't even sink to using chemical weapons." Spicer's comments were a condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's gas attack which claimed the lives of at least 80 Syrian civilians on April 4.
When asked to clarify his comment, Spicer said, "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."
Reporters then pointed out to Spicer that gas chambers were an integral part of the mass executions during the Holocaust.
"He brought them into the Holocaust centers, I understand that," Spicer responded, referring to concentration camps as "Holocaust centers."
In a subsequent attempt at clarification, Spicer said that he was not "trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust." Instead, he was, "trying to draw a contrast of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on innocent people."
From the print pool, what appears to be a 4th Hitler clarification from Spicer, which adds a sentence at the end not there previously pic.twitter.com/lxZDJb2rwt
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 11, 2017
Spicer's comments were similar to those made by Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis.
"Even in World War II, chemical weapons were not used on battlefields. Even in the Korean War, they were not used on battlefields. Since World War I, there has been an international convention on this," Mattis explained in a press conference on Tuesday.
The majority of historians believe that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons on the battlefield during WWII, possibly due to Hitler's exposure to mustard gas during WWI, according to CNN.
Democrats' response to Spicer's comments were swift and furious. House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) issued a press release saying that Spicer was "downplaying the horror of the Holocaust" in the middle of the Passover season.
"Spicer must be fired, and the President must immediately disavow his spokesman's statements. Either he is speaking for the President, or the President should have known better than to hire him," Pelosi said.
.@realDonaldTrump, it’s time to fire @PressSec Sean Spicer. https://t.co/35sTqfkp1d pic.twitter.com/Lw73GVtKDh
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 11, 2017
A call for Spicer's firing also came from Jason Kander, former state representative of Missouri. "Spicer should be fired because making up absurd, offensive lies is not his job. His job is repeating them," Kander tweeted.
Sean Spicer should be fired because making up absurd, offensive lies is not his job.
His job is to repeat them.
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) April 11, 2017
Stopping short of calling for Spicer's firing, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez demanded an apology from the White House. Perez called Spicer's statement, "callous and inaccurate" and "shameful."
The @WhiteHouse absolutely must apologize for their callous and inaccurate statement about the Holocaust. Shameful.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) April 11, 2017
Spicer's comments also did not escape the attention of former first-daughter and media darling Chelsea Clinton, who called for Spicer to visit the Holocaust Museum, "a few blocks away."
I hope @PressSec takes time to visit @HolocaustMuseum. It's a few blocks away. https://t.co/24fNoMUyS8
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 11, 2017