Spicer: 'Hitler Didn't Sink to Using Chemical Weapons' Like Assad

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Adolf Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons" — a comment at odds with Hitler's extermination of Jews during the Holocaust using gas chambers.

Spicer was attempting to discuss the horror of the chemical weapons attack last week in Syria that the administration is blaming on President Bashar Assad.

"We didn't use chemical weapons in World War II," said Spicer, adding that "someone as despicable as Hitler... didn't even sink to using chemical weapons."

Minutes later, Spicer delivered a garbled defense of his remarks in which he tried to differentiate between Hitler's actions and the gas attack on Syrian civilians last week. The attack in northern Syria left nearly 90 people dead, and Turkey's health minister said test show sarin gas was used.

"I think when you come to sarin gas, there was no, he (Hitler) was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing," Spicer said. "There was clearly....I understand your point, thank you. There was not...He brought them into the Holocaust center I understand that."

...After the briefing, Spicer emailed a statement to reporters: "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."