Coffman Says Spicer Should Go: 'He Made A Terrible Mistake'
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Rep. Mike Coffman is the first Republican member of Congress to join the calls for the resignation of President Donald Trump's spokesman.
The Colorado Congressman's comments on White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's gaffe about the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler came Wednesday night at his town hall meeting in Aurora.
Earlier this week Spicer compared Syrian dictator President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons attack on his own citizens to Hitler's actions. He said Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons" and stumbled when trying to clarify, apparently forgetting the millions of Jewish people who died in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
Spicer comments came on the first day of Passover and drew swift reaction from members of the Jewish community. Some have called on Trump to fire him.
"It really is painful to myself to know I did something like that because that obviously was not my intention, and to know when you screw up that you possibly offended a lot of people. I would ask for folks forgiveness," Spicer said a day later.
When Coffman took a stance on the issue in his town hall meeting it drew loud applause.
"I need to hear from my congressman that these things are unnacceptable," said an attendee who asked about the situation.
"Spicer made a terrible mistake yesterday and he admitted it," Coffman said. "If you're not familiar with what he did is that he … I mean, he needs to go."
During his re-election campaign last year Coffman ran ads in which he said he wasn't a fan of Trump. This was his first in-person town hall meeting since the president took office.
Trump so far hasn't spoken publicly about Spicer's mistake.
