>> that the administration is blaming on president bashar assad, sean spicer said today that adolf hitler didn't even sink to using chemical weapons, a comment at odds with hitler's using gas chambers. he made the comments during today's white house briefing. here's a look at his original comment and then his point of clarification later on in the briefing. >> the alliance between russia and syria is a strong one, it goes back decades. president putin has supplied personnel, supplied military equipment to the assad government. what makes you think that at this point he's going to pull back in his support for president assad and for the syrian government right now? >> i think a couple things.

you look, we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii. you had someone as despicable as hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. so you have to, if you're russia, ask yourself is this a country that you and a reregime that you want to align yourself with? you have previously signed on to international agreements rightfully acknowledging that the use of chemical weapons should be out of bounds by every country. to not stand up to not only assad, but your own word, should be troubling. russia put their name on the line. so it's not a question of how long that alliance has lasted, but at what point do they recognize that they are now getting on the wrong side of history in a really bad way really quickly. and, again, look at the countries that are standing with them; iran, syria, north korea. this is not, this is not a team you want to be on. and i think that russia has to recognize that while they may have had an alliance for them,

the lines that have been crossed are ones that no country should ever want to see another country cross. >> i just want to give you the opportunity to clarify something you said, a retraction right now, quote, hitler didn't even sink to the level of using chemical weapons. what did you mean by that? >> i think when you come to serin gas, there was no -- he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. i mean, there was clearly -- i understand your point, thank you. >> [inaudible] >> thank you, i appreciate that. there was not in the, he brought them into the holocaust, i understood that. but i'm saying in the way assad went into town, dropped them down into the middle of town. it was brought -- so the use of it, i appreciate the clarification. that was not the intent. >> tonight booktv is in prime time with a look at nasa and space exploration, and we start with author dava sobel and her

book, " the glass universe." and then from the tucson festival of books, ney that would ya holt discusses "rise of the rocket girls: the women who propelled us from missiles to the moon to mars." margot lee shetterly recalls a group of african-american women who played key roles in the devising of air rah naughtics -- arrow aeronautics. and astronomy professor chris empy talks about his book, "beyond." booktv in prime time tonight starting at eight eastern. >> the los angeles times has been putting on the festival of books for more than 20 years, and it has become an institution that's part of the community. and if, and it's a way that we

can celebrate with the readers of the paper and with the city as a whole the very notion of reading. and today when the idea of there being something called fake news is out there, i think that books help us celebrate the way that words and facts are grounded in storytelling and in history. >> watch our live coverage of the los angeles times festival of books all weekend, april 22nd and 23rd, on booktv on c-span2. >> in case you missed it on c-span, oklahoma congressman steve russell on the 100th anniversary of the u.s. entry into world war i. >> on the 6th of april, 100 years ago today, where i am standing with concrete evidence of german hostility to the united states, to international peace and to liberal democracy,

the congress of the united states declared war on germany. >> homeland security secretary john kelly on the building of the border wall -- >> and i have no doubt when i go back to him and say, you know, boss, wall makes sense here, fencing, high-tech fencing makes sense over here, technology makes sense over here, i have no doubt that he will go tell me to do it. >> senator kamala harris on morale at the department of homeland security. >> and in regards to your top-to-bottom assessment, has your assessment included looking into the morale issues at the agency and put anything place programs and initiatives to actually improve the morale? >> it's what i do, yes. >> actress holly robinson peete on autism awareness. >> and now with this new see amazing children alternative, they are showing just how amazing kids with autism truly are. and coming to a better understanding of autism through the beloved sesame street friends makes it all the more

accessible, and it's all part of sesame street's magic. >> hud secretary ben carson at the national low income housing coalition conference. >> bureaucracy is when you care more about the rulessen than you care about the goals -- rules than you care about the goals. [applause] and, you know, that is killing us as a nation. so we are working very hard to get the inappropriate things out of the way. >> representative bruce poll quinn at the consumer financial protect bureau's semiannual report. >> do you guarantee that neither you, nor anybody at the cfpb has used personal communication devices, text, e-mail, cell phones and have fully complied with the federal records act, yes or no? >> again, this is a trumped-up issue. >> yes or no -- >> c-span programs are available at c-span.org, on our web page and by searching the video library. >> the american enterprise