Senate

GOP senator: White House Holocaust statement a ‘historical mistake’

by Jordain Carney - 01/30/17 2:45 PM ET

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on Monday that the White House’s decision not to mention Jewish people specifically in its Holocaust statement last week was a “historical mistake.”

The Administration’s omission of the Jewish people in a Holocaust remembrance statement is an historical mistake.

— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) January 30, 2017

President Trump released a statement on Friday marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. He didn’t specifically mention Jews or anti-Semitism, but said “it is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about the omission Monday, and he accused the media of “nitpicking” with its criticism.

“The president went out of his way to recognize the Holocaust and the suffering that went through it and the people that were affected by it and the loss of life,” Spicer said. “And to make sure that America never forgets what so many people went through, whether they were Jews or gypsies, gays, disability.”

{mosads}Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, also defended the statement over the weekend, telling NBC that the White House wasn’t “whitewashing anything.”

“We’ll never forget the Jewish people that suffered in World War II and obviously still incredible wounds that remain in a time in history that was of great, incredible, horrific magnitude,” Priebus said.

But the statement quickly came under fire from Democrats and outside groups.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was “puzzling and troubling” that it didn’t mention the Jewish people by name.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) separately told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Trump White House, “unlike any previous administration, removed all reference to Jews.”

Tags Susan Collins Tim Kaine