White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Wednesday offered a fresh apology for minimizing the atrocities of Adolf Hitler in his comments on Syria, amid a wave of indignation at home and overseas. "That obviously was not my intention".
He noted that Trump had bombed a Syrian air base in a forceful response to chemical weapons use by Assad's government and said Trump's hosting of Chinese President Xi Jinping last week had produced "tremendous progress". "And when you're distracting from that message of accomplishment.it's disappointing because I think I've let the president down".
Reaction to Spicer's initial comment continued Wednesday, with Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial inviting him to visit its website. I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centers.
Spicer's comments drew a sharp rebuke from both US Jewish groups and politicians, including calls for his resignation from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
He said his original comments were "inexcusable and reprehensible".
White House press secretary Sean Spicer apologised on Wednesday for "insensitive" remarks in which he seemed to favourably compare Adolf Hitler's actions during the Holocaust to atrocities carried out now by strongman Bashar al-Assad in Syria. "Moreover, they are liable to strengthen the hands of those whose goal is to distort history", it said. "Sean Spicer must be fired, and the president must immediately disavow his spokesman's statements".
Sweden questioning 7 people over deadly Stockholm truck attack
A 39-year-old Uzbek man is in custody following what authorities termed a terror attack, the motive for which was still unknown. In December 2010, a suicide bomber blew himself up, also on the Drottninggatan street, slightly injuring several passers-by.
Democrats and Jewish organizations condemned the comments. "I got into a topic that I shouldn't have and I screwed up", Spicer said during an event at a museum in Washington.
Two conservative news outlets had made a similar comparison between Hitler and Assad earlier in the week.
But Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said that while "using the issue of the Holocaust or Hitler is problematic on many levels", he believed Spicer had "genuinely and sincerely apologized". The White House generated criticism at the start of the year when a statement on worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day did not make any reference to Jews.
Tuesday was the second consecutive day in which Trump's principal spokesman appeared to struggle to articulate Trump's foreign policy at a critical time.
But his latest claim brought anger from across the political spectrum and looks of astonishment from the assembled White House press corps, who offered Mr Spicer a chance to clarify.
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