Spicer, on Holocaust comparison: 'I let the president down'

The rest of Spicer's interview offered new insight into how the White House views the press.

"You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons", Spicer said, momentarily forgetting the Holocaust and prompting outraged calls for his resignation. "He apologized, and he apologized from his heart, and I am prepared to give him a pass on this".

White House press secretary Sean Spicer apologized again Wednesday morning for comparing chemical weapon attacks in Syria to the Holocaust the day before, saying the mistake was "mine to own, mine to apologize for and mine to ask forgiveness for".

"We didn't even use chemical weapons in World War II", said Spicer. On 11 April, Spicer caused a storm during his press briefing when he said that Hitler did not use chemical weapons.

In a statement issued after the briefing, Spicer then failed to acknowledge the atrocities Hitler had committed.

The Nazis are infamous for using gas chambers to exterminate Jews and others in the Holocaust.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of liberal pro-Israel advocacy group J STreet, called the comments "unforgivable". Addressing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Spicer made a beyond-ignorant comparison to Adolf Hitler.

However, that is obviously not true, as Hitler gassed millions of people, the majority of them Jewish, in the Holocaust.

Democrats and Jewish organizations condemned the comments.

"I made a mistake by trying to make a comparison that was completely wrong", he said.

Senator Ben Cardin said on Twitter, "Someone get @PressSec a refresher history course on Hitler stat (hashtag)#Icantbelievehereallysaidthat".

"I made a mistake", he told MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren and the Newseum audience. "I'm really surprised a man of his knowledge would say anything that stupid". Critics in January noted the administration's statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which omitted any mention of Jewish victims.

Nazi Germany did use another gas.

Asked to clarify those remarks a few minutes later by another reporter, Spicer dug himself deeper. "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".

She recalled the lessons she learned about "dignity, graciousness, empathy, and certainly humility" when she was press secretary, telling Spicer that "there's no job that will humble you like the White House Press Secretary's job".