New York GOP assemblyman apologizes for calling Cuomo's pushing of gun control bill 'Hitlerite'
Washington, Feb. 6 : An assemblyman in New York, Steve McLaughlin has apologized for comparing Governor Andrew Cuomo to Hitler and Mussolini.
McLaughlin's apology came in the form of a video after he had initially refused to apologize.
According to the New York Daily News, McLaughlin blasted the governor for ramming new gun control measures through the legislature without the usual three-day waiting period.
McLaughlin, who voted against the bill, said that they were told to shut up and vote, and that's what this is all about.
He added that 'Hitler would be proud, Mussolini would be proud of what we did here, Moscow would be proud, but that's not democracy'.
McLaughlin and a group of legislative Republicans are seeking ways to limit the governor's power to waive the three-day requirement for legislation.
He initially refused to retract his comments and took them further by also comparing Cuomo to Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Later, in the face of criticism, he issued a video apologizing, calling it "an honest mistake" in the "heat of the moment," the report added.