White House press secretary Sean Spicer fired back at critics who he argued are “nitpicking” President Trump’s statement on the Holocaust by highlighting the White House’s omission of any mention of Jews or anti-Semitism.
“Well I think he’s aware of what people have been saying, but I think by and large he’s been praised for it,” Spicer told reporters at the White House’s daily briefing on Monday. “I mean, 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 and to make sure that America never forgets what so many people went through whether they were Jews or Gypsies, gays, disability, priests.”
[ Facing criticism, Trump administration has no regrets about leaving out Jews in Holocaust statement ]
The White House has been criticized by Jewish groups , including the Trump-allied Republican Jewish Coalition, and lawmakers for issuing a statement that did not specifically acknowledge that the intent of the Holocaust was to exterminate the Jewish people.
Officials said the omission was intentional, and Spicer said that Trump’s record of defending Israel speaks for his allegiance to the Jewish people.
“It is pathetic that people are picking on his statement,” Spicer said. “I mean, the idea that you’re nitpicking a statement that sought to remember this tragic event that occurred, and the people who died in it, is just ridiculous.
“I think he acknowledged the suffering that existed and wants to make sure that it’s enshrined in the American people’s memory, so that something like this never ever happens again,” he added.
Past statements by Republican and Democratic presidents have specifically acknowledged the roughly 6 million Jewish people who were killed by Nazis or made reference to the ideology of anti-Semitism that fueled the regime.
“The administration’s omission of the Jewish people in a Holocaust remembrance statement is a historical mistake,” wrote Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
On Monday afternoon, after Spicer made his comments, the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum released a pointed statement explaining why anti-semitism was “central” to Nazi ideology.
“Nazi ideology cast the world as a racial struggle, and the singular focus on the total destruction of every Jewish person was at its racist core,” the statement said. “Millions of other innocent civilians were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis, but the elimination of Jews was central to Nazi policy. As Elie Wiesel said, ‘Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.’
“An accurate understanding of this history is critical if we are to learn its lessons and honor its victims,” it added.
Others have questioned whether the White House sought the input of Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner in the crafting of the statement.
Spicer said on Monday that the statement was crafted “with the help of an individual who’s both Jewish and the descendant of Holocaust survivors.”
Asked whether he was referring to Kushner, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors , Spicer said he was “not getting into who wrote it.”
