Republican Rep. Randy Weber apologizes for Obama-Hitler tweet

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Conservative U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler in a tweet lambasting Obama for not going to Paris.

While British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany joined Sunday's march in Paris, the United States was represented by an assistant secretary of state and Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to France.

"Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all the wrong reasons.) Obama couldn't do it for right reasons," Weber said via Twitter on Monday, misspelling the German dictator's first name.

Hitler fought in France during World War I, but his one trip to Paris was in 1940 after the French surrender in World War II.

Weber apologized for the tweet Tuesday.

"I need to apologize to all those offended by my tweet," he said in a statement. "It was not my intention to trivialize the Holocaust nor to compare the President to Adolf Hitler. The mention of Hitler was meant to represent the face of evil that still exists in the world today. I now realize that the use of Hitler invokes pain and emotional trauma for those affected by the atrocities of the Holocaust and victims of anti-Semitism and hate."

Weber, who was elected to Congress in 2012 from the Galveston district formerly represented by Ron Paul, has a history of vitriolic tweeting about the president. He has accused Obama of ignoring the Constitution and urged him to "put America First."

During Obama's State of the Union message last year, Weber sent a tweet from the House floor calling the president the "Kommandant-In-Chief" and a "Socialistic dictator." Monday's tweet was his first use of Hitler's name.

Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said Monday that someone "higher profile" should have represented the United States at the march in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris. But the administration has said that security considerations in an outdoor march and one that was planned in less than two days would have barred Obama from joining Cameron and Merkel.

The march, days after the deadly attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, is believed to have been the largest in French history.