Sean Spicer Just Claimed That Hitler Never Used Chemical Weapons

1. At a Tuesday press briefing, Sean Spicer falsely claimed Hitler never used chemical weapons during World War II.

“We didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II. We had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” Spicer said, while speaking about Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons attack last week.

2. He was immediately blasted for apparently forgetting about gas chambers that were used at concentration camps to kill millions of Jewish people.

5. When another reporter asked him to clarify the comment, Spicer fumbled through an explanation and defense.

“I think when you come to sarin gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing,” Spicer said.

“But in the way that Assad used them, where he went into towns and dropped them down to innocent into the middle of towns… I appreciate the clarification, that was not the intent,” he said.

6. Then, after the briefing, he released a statement saying he was not “trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust.”

7. Then he sent out a clarification to that clarification, changing “innocent people” to “population centers.”

8. He then clarified the clarification to the clarification, saying “any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable.”

9. Regardless, the comment received widespread condemnation, particularly because it occurred during Passover.

11. Shortly after the press briefing, Chelsea Clinton tweeted that she hopes Spicer will visit the Holocaust Museum following his comments.

12. And in a well-timed tweet, the Holocaust Museum shared a video of what US armed forces saw during the liberation of a German concentration camp.

13. “I find nothing funny about the Press Secretary bungling holocaust history,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz tweeted. “Because I’m not sure they should get the benefit of the doubt.”

14. Following Spicer’s comments, a myriad of people and institutions are calling for the press secretary’s removal.

“On Passover no less, Sean Spicer has engaged in Holocaust denial, the most offensive of fake news imaginable, by denying Hitler gassed millions of Jews to death,” Anne Frank Center executive director 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.”

15. Barbra Streisand also called for Spicer to be fired.

16. As did Nancy Pelosi.

“While Jewish families across America celebrate Passover, the chief spokesman of this White House is downplaying the horror of the Holocaust,” Pelosi said in a statement.

“Sean Spicer must be fired, and the President must immediately disavow his spokesman’s statements. Either he is speaking for the President, or the President should have known better than to hire him.”

17. And now, the calls for Spicer’s removal are even coming from the right.

Pro-Trump alt-right blogger Mike Cernovich claimed “the media is working to force errors” in Spicer.

“Nice guy but not the right fit,” he said, along with a suggestion for a replacement.

19. And Alex Jones couldn’t believe it when he heard what Spicer had said, even asking whether he was being sarcastic.