Spicer: Backlash Over Holocaust Statement Is ‘Pathetic’

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday condemned as “pathetic” the widespread backlash against President Trump’s Holocaust statement omitting the Jewish people. In a Friday statement, issued for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the White House noticeably left out any mention of Jews—six million of whom were killed during the Holocaust. During the press conference, Spicer doubled down on the administration’s defense that it did not specifically mention Jews because many other groups were also targeted during Adolf Hitler’s reign. “The statement was written with the help of an individual who is both Jewish and the descendants of Holocaust survivors,” Spicer said. “To suggest that remembering the Holocaust and acknowledging all of the people—Jews, gypsies, priests, disabled, gays and lesbians—I mean, it is pathetic that people are picking on a statement.”