After Politico reported that the White House quashed a State Department statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day that specifically mentioned Jewish victims, the director of the Anti-Defamation League called on President Donald Trump to apologize.
“To not include Jews when talking about the Holocaust is to miss the very essence of this low point in human history. Time for President Trump to apologize and set the record straight,” ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt said late Thursday in a statement.
Trump’s statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day last week did not explicitly mention Jewish victims, prompting scrutiny from groups like the ADL.
Politico revealed Thursday that the State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy on Holocaust Issues had drafted a statement that did mention Jewish victims, but that the White House blocked it from being released.
An anonymous official told Politico that the White House did not see the statement from the State Department until after the Trump administration had sent out its own version. But unnamed officials at the State Department told Politico that the agency had been preparing a statement for the White House to use.
Trump’s aides vigorously defended the administration’s remarks remembering Holocaust victims in the face of intense criticism. Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus said that the administration did not “mean any ill will to anybody,” while White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that “pathetic” critics of the statement were just “nitpicking.”
