GOP rep: Spicer’s Hitler remark ‘not without some validity’

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s widely criticized remarks about Adolf Hitler and Syrian President Bashar Assad are “not without some validity.”

“I can’t even believe that anybody in the media, much less all of the major networks, led with this story,” Cramer said Wednesday on KFYR-FM radio, as reported by CNN.

“[Spicer’s] a spokesman who, by the way, made a poor illustration, but it’s not completely, it’s not without some validity,” Cramer added.

{mosads}Cramer added Spicer made “a factual statement” about the differences between Hitler and Assad.

“I think what he was saying is that Hitler didn’t take chemical weapons out in a battle-like form and do what Assad did with these children,” Cramer said. “I think [Spicer] apologized and that’s the end of it.”

Spicer sparked headlines during his Tuesday press briefing when attempted to criticize Assad by saying that not even Hitler used chemical weapons. Assad’s forces are believed to be behind a chemical attack earlier this month that killed scores of Syrian civilians. Nazis killed millions of Jews in gas chambers during the Holocaust. 

Spicer also drew fire for saying that Hitler didn’t gas “his own people” in response to a follow-up question and for referring to concentration camps as “Holocaust centers.” 

Spicer tried to further clarify his remarks after the briefing, saying in a statement: “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.” 

Spicer apologized several times Tuesday and said Wednesday he had let down President Trump.

“On both a personal level and a professional level, that will not go down as a very good day in my history,” he said.

Spicer’s gaffe overshadowed the White House’s message on Syria ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Russia Wednesday.