Widely condemned claim that Hitler did not use chemical weapons is latest in a long line of dubious remarks and missteps

Sean Spicer has apologised after he was widely condemned for claiming that Adolf Hitler, who gassed millions of Jews during the Holocaust, did not use chemical weapons.

But it is not the first time Donald Trump’s pugnacious press secretary has got himself into hot water over offensive or dubious claims.



International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In January, Spicer defended Trump for going “out of his way to recognise the Holocaust” after the president was criticised for omitting any mention of Jews, or antisemitism, from a White House statement commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Spicer hit back at critics, calling them “pathetic”.

#Spicerfacts

After Trump’s inauguration in January, Spicer inspired the hashtag #SpicerFacts after reiterating his claim that the ceremony had the biggest audience in history, despite evidence from photos, crowd experts, TV ratings and the Washington Metro network. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period!” Spicer said.

In the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, Spicer declared: “Sometimes we can disagree with the facts.”



The ban that wasn’t a ban

Spicer also, to the exasperation of reporters and the amusement of Twitter, said Trump’s executive order blocking entry of refugees and travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries was not a “travel ban”, even though the president had used the word “ban”. Called out on this, Spicer said: “He’s using the words that the media is using”.

The distress call

In March, Spicer showed up at his Friday press briefing wearing an upside-down American flag pin on his lapel. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, a flag should never be displayed with the union facing down, “except as a signal of distress”. One reporter in the room piped up: “Is that a distress call, Sean?”

Retweeting The Onion

In February, Spicer retweeted a video from the spoof news site The Onion, that read: “@SeanSpicer’s role in the Trump administration will be to provide the American public with robust and clearly articulated misinformation.” Spicer accompanied his retweet with the words: “You nailed it. Period!”

Many Twitter users asked whether Spicer had actually read the tweet, or knew what The Onion is.