Sean Spicer says Hitler didn't use chemical weapons

White House press secretary SeanSpicersaid Tuesdaythat Adolf Hitler didn't use chemical weaponsacomment at odds with Hitler's extermination of Jews during theHolocaust using gas chambers.

Spicerwas attempting to discuss the horror of the chemicalweapons attack last week in Syria that the U.S. administration is blamingon PresidentBasharal-Assad.

"We didn't use chemical weapons in World War II," saidSpicer,adding that "someone as despicable as Hitler ... didn't even sink tousing chemical weapons."

Someone as despicable as Hitler ... didn't even sink tousing chemical weapons.- Sean Spicer, White House press secretary

Minutes later,Spicerdelivered a garbled defence of his remarksin which he tried to differentiate between Hitler's actionsand thegas attack last week on Syrian civilians. The attack in northernSyria left nearly 90 people dead, and Turkey's health minister saidtests showsaringas was used.

"I think when you come tosaringas, there was no, he [Hitler]was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assadisdoing,"Spicersaid. "There was clearly I understand yourpoint, thank you. There was not He brought them into the Holocaustcentre, I understand that.

"I appreciate the clarification. That was not the intent," hesaid.

'Most evil slur'

The U.S.-based Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect issued a statement calling Spicer'scomments "the most evil slur upon a group of people" and demanding that Spicerbe fired immediately.

After Tuesday's briefing,Spiceremaileda statement to reporters: "Inno way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of theHolocaust. I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of usingairplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centres. Any attackon innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable."

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Spicer'scomments came on the first day of Passover and a dayafter the White House held a Seder dinner marking the emancipationof the Jewish people, a tradition started during theObamaadministration.

According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, theNazis experimented with poison gas in late 1939 with the killing of mental patients, which was termed "euthanasia."

Spicer's comments drew heavybacklash on socialmedia,including from Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former U.S. president Bill Clinton and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Spicer later apologized during an interview with CNN, sayinghemistakenly used "aninappropriate, insensitive reference to the Holocaust."

"It was my blunder," he said.

It's not the first time the Trump administration has been criticized for comments related to the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.

The White House released a statement on international Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this year that omitted any mention of Jewish victims.

At the time, Spicer defended that statement by saying it had been written in part by a Jewish staff member whose family members had survived the Holocaust.