David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

John Podesta hasn't started yet in his new position as a senior adviser to President Obama, but he is already finding himself in hot water with Republicans.

Podesta, President Bill Clinton's former Chief of Staff and chair of the Center for American Progress, is quoted in a Politico profile comparing House Republicans to the followers of Jim Jones, the group that infamously murdered five people, including a U.S. congressman, before committing one of the largest mass suicides in history in 1978.

"They (Obama administration) need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress," Podesta told Politico in an interview earlier this fall.

Podesta apologized for his remark today, tweeting that "my snark got in front of my judgment."

The newly-minted White House counselor, who begins in January, was called out earlier today by a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"For those who've forgotten, a Democratic member of Congress was murdered in Jonestown and a current one, Rep. Jackie Speier, was shot five times during the same incident," spokesman Brendan Buck noted in a statement to reporters. "If this is the attitude of the new White House, it's hard to see how the president gets anything done again."

In his tweet, Podesta said "I apologize to Speaker Boehner, whom I have always respected."