Administration

Anne Frank Center calls for Spicer to be fired

by Rebecca Savransky 04/11/17 03:24 PM ET

The Anne Frank Center is calling for White House press secretary Sean Spicer to be fired after his Tuesday comments claiming Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War II.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the center’s executive director blasted Spicer, saying the White House spokesman “lacks the integrity” to serve in his post.

“On Passover no less, Sean Spicer has engaged in Holocaust denial, the most offensive form of fake news imaginable, by denying Hitler gassed millions of Jews to death,” Steven Goldstein said in a statement.

“Spicer’s statement is the most evil slur upon a group of people we have ever heard from a White House press secretary.”

He added: “President Trump must fire him at once.”

{mosads}During Tuesday’s press briefing, Spicer referenced Hitler while talking about Syrian President Bashar Assad and the recent chemical strike in Syria that prompted a military response from the U.S.

“You had someone as despicable as Hitler, who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” Spicer said.

Hitler is known to have used cyanide gas in mass murders of Jews.

Later in the briefing, Spicer was asked to clarify his comments.

“When it comes to sarin gas, [Hitler] was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing,” Spicer said during his follow-up.

“I understand your point. Thank you. I appreciate that. He brought them into the Holocaust centers, I understand that. I was saying in the way that Assad used them where he went into town, dropped them into the middle of town. I appreciate the clarification. That was not the intent.”

Following the briefing, Spicer released a further statement saying he wasn’t trying to “lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust.”

“However, I was trying to draw a contrast of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on innocent people,” he said in the statement.