GOP rep on Spicer: ‘He needs to go’

Republican Rep. Mike Coffman (Colo.) on Wednesday called for White House press secretary Sean Spicer to resign in the wake of widely criticized comments comparing Syria’s Bashar Assad to Adolf Hitler. 

“Spicer made a terrible mistake yesterday. He admitted it,” Coffman said at a town hall meeting in Colorado. “If you’re not familiar with what he did, is that he — I mean, he needs to go. Because I just don’t think he’s serving the president well.”

Spicer on Tuesday drew fire for criticizing the Assad regime by saying that even Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons, despite the fact that countless Jews were killed in gas chambers during the Holocaust. 

{mosads}”We didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II,” Spicer said at his daily press briefing. “You know, you had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.”

“So you have to, if you are Russia, ask yourself: Is this a country and a regime that you want to align yourself with?” he continued.

Spicer, trying to clarify remarks, sparked further outrage by saying Hitler didn’t use gas on his own people, even though thousands of Jews killed by Nazis were Germans. He also referred to concentration camps as “Holocaust centers.” 

The press secretary has since apologized for his comments, saying on Wednesday that he “let the president down.”

Coffman isn’t the only lawmaker calling on Spicer to step down. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also called for the White House spokesman to resign on Tuesday shortly after his press briefing.

While Coffman’s suggestion that Spicer resign drew applause among town hall attendees, the Colorado Republican received boos and jeers shortly afterward when he tried to explain Spicer’s comments.

“So what he tried to do is this, is he said that — and it’s true — the German army in World War II had chemical weapons and chose not to use them, because they felt that the retaliation would — the map didn’t work for them,” Coffman said. “But at the same time, so, he was trying to make that point about Russians.”

The comments drew shouts from the audience, with one person urging Coffman to “stop apologizing” for Spicer.