Story highlights "He was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing," Spicer saidReporters in the briefing room offered the Holocaust as an example of chemical weapons use(CNN) White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in an effort to shame Russia's alliance with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his use of chemical weapons, said Tuesday Adolf Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons" during World War II. While Hitler did not use chemical weapons on the battlefield, Hitler and the Nazis used gas chambers to exterminate Jews, disabled people and others. "You had someone who was despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons," Spicer said. The comment immediately reverberated online and audible gasps could be heard in the press briefing room after the Spicer made the comment. Spicer, asked later in the briefing for a clarification by a reporter about the comments that Hitler did not use chemical weapons, said: "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."

Source: CNN April 11, 2017 18:29 UTC