--- title: Sean Spicer: Transcript of Adolf Hitler Comment description: Sean Spicer incorrectly said Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons against his own people during World War II canonical: https://time.com/4735224/sean-spicer-hitler-chemical-weapons-transcript/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-11T21:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:20:49.839Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read What Sean Spicer Said About Adolf Hitler and Chemical Weapons og:description: He incorrectly said Hitler did not use chemical weapons og:url: https://time.com/4735224/sean-spicer-hitler-chemical-weapons-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd1181bd924c47b/6988c25ca988ca7aa06bbae7/sean-spicer-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: sean-spicer-transcript og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read What Sean Spicer Said About Adolf Hitler and Chemical Weapons twitter:description: He incorrectly said Hitler did not use chemical weapons twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd1181bd924c47b/6988c25ca988ca7aa06bbae7/sean-spicer-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read What Sean Spicer Said About Adolf Hitler and Chemical Weapons > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 11, 2017 9:00 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes reporters' questions during the daily press briefing at the White House March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes reporters' questions during the daily press briefing at the White House March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—2017 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 11, 2017 9:00 PM UTC White House press secretary Sean Spicer incorrectly said [Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons](http://time.com/4734994/sean-spicer-syria-adolph-hitler-chemical-weapons-holocaust/?xid=homepage) against his own people during World War II while comparing him to Syrian President Bashar Assad during a press conference on Tuesday. “You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” he said. Spicer’s comment and [later attempts at clarification](http://time.com/4734994/sean-spicer-syria-adolph-hitler-chemical-weapons-holocaust/) caused a stir on social media on Tuesday afternoon. Hitler’s Nazi regime used poisonous gas against Jews, Catholics, homosexuals and the handicapped during the Holocaust. Read what he said below after being asked about the U.S. response to [Assad using chemical weapons](http://time.com/4733504/syria-airstrikes-russia/) in attacks in Syria last week. --- > “” --- Later, Spicer was offered chance to clarify his statement regarding Hitler. Here’s what he said: --- > “” --- Following the press briefing, Spicer issued further clarification, saying he was not “trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust.” “I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centers,” he said. “Any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4735224/sean-spicer-hitler-chemical-weapons-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4735224/sean-spicer-hitler-chemical-weapons-transcript/"},"headline":"Read What Sean Spicer Said About Adolf Hitler and Chemical Weapons","datePublished":"2017-04-11T21:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:20:49.839Z","description":"He incorrectly said Hitler did not use chemical weapons","url":"https://time.com/4735224/sean-spicer-hitler-chemical-weapons-transcript/","keywords":["White House","transcript","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd1181bd924c47b/6988c25ca988ca7aa06bbae7/sean-spicer-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd1181bd924c47b/6988c25ca988ca7aa06bbae7/sean-spicer-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"sean-spicer-transcript","caption":"White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes reporters' questions during the daily press briefing at the White House March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. 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