Jake Tapper suggests Sean Spicer visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum: 'It's just a few blocks away from the White House'

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer twisted himself in knots during Tuesday's press briefing, using a historically inaccurate analogy to compare Adolf Hitler's murderous techniques during the Holocaust to the chemical weapons usage of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. When asked about the administration's response to the chemical attack in Syria last week that killed dozens of civilians, Spicer remarked, "You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons."

When a reporter asked him to clarify his comments, Spicer said that Hitler "was not using gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing." After the briefing, he issued several more clarifying statements, explaining he was "in no way" trying to "lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust," but simply "trying to draw a contrast" between Assad "using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on innocent people" and Hitler's poison gas chambers, which killed more than a million people.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper was having none of Spicer's walkbacks, using his show Tuesday to fact-check the press secretary. "What Spicer said was false, and, frankly, kind of ignorant," Tapper said. And then he offered a piece of advice: "Sean, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum — it's just a few blocks away from the White House. Perhaps a visit's in order." Watch below. Kimberly Alters

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up