text: The ominous silence around the Trump administration's national security advisor, retired Gen. Michael T. Flynn, deepened Sunday as a senior White House official in a televised interview declined to say if the president still has confidence in him. 
   
   "That's the question that I think you should ask the president, the question you should ask Reince [Priebus], the chief of staff," Stephen Miller, the White House senior policy advisor, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if Trump still has confidence in Flynn. 
   
   "So the White House did not give you anything to say," asked the show's host, Chuck Todd. 
   
   "They did not give me anything to say," Miller responded. 
   
   Miller's silence on Flynn was significant because the White House had booked him on several of the major Sunday television interview programs as the administration's spokesperson this weekend. 
   
   White House officials appear to have deliberately chosen Miller, whose portfolio does not include foreign policy, in part to avoid having to give a definitive answer about Flynn. 
   
   Flynn's future with the administration is at issue because of indications that he may have misled his colleagues, including Vice President Mike Pence, about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the weeks before Trump's inauguration. That would normally be a severe problem for someone in Flynn’s position, but Trump may not want to appear to be dropping an aide under pressure from the media and Democratic critics. 
   
   The FBI has been examining Flynn’s contacts with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to multiple news reports. Agents are looking at whether Flynn tried to undermine the Obama administration’s move to toughen sanctions against Moscow after concluding that Russia had meddled in the U.S. election. 
   
   Flynn had publicly denied discussing sanctions with Kislyak. But on Thursday, a Washington Post account , citing nine current or former U.S. officials, flatly contradicted those denials. The article quoted a representative for Flynn as backing away from his previous statements, saying that though Flynn “had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up.” 
   
   Since the Post published its report, the White House has passed up several opportunities to publicly back up Flynn. Trump, asked about the report on Friday, said he was unaware of it. 
   
   Shortly after Miller's appearances on "Meet the Press" and ABC's "This Week," Trump tweeted his approval of Miller's statements, again without mentioning Flynn. ||||| "First reason, it doesn't really make us safer. It doesn't really focus on the areas where we really need to tighten up," Schumer said. | AP Photo Schumer: Trump should throw travel ban 'in the trash' 
   
   Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered a recommendation Sunday: President Donald Trump should toss any travel-ban executive order "in the trash." 
   
   The comment, made by the top Senate Democrat in an interview on "Face the Nation" with CBS' John Dickerson, came in response to a question about the Trump administration looking to introduce a new executive order similar to a travel ban for seven majority-Muslim countries blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 
   
   Story Continued Below 
   
   Earlier, during interviews on multiple Sunday shows, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller suggested that the White House was looking into putting a travel plan in place through a new executive order or alternatives. 
   
   "I think he ought to throw it in the trash," Schumer said. "I think this executive order is so bad and so poisoned and its genesis is so bad and terrible that he ought to just throw it in the trash can." 
   
   Schumer gave two reasons. 
   
   "First reason, it doesn't really make us safer. It doesn't really focus on the areas where we really need to tighten up," Schumer said. The second reason, the New York Democrat continued, "is something called the visa waiver program." 
   
   "It's very easy to come to America from countries that we've always regarded as friendly. There are, I think, 27 of them," Schumer continued. "But these days there are would-be terrorists who have infiltrated places like Belgium and France, and they could come into this country much more easily than someone who's a refugee from the seven countries the president mentioned. That needs real tightening up." 
   
   Schumer went on to say the Trump executive order "is just un-American and unconstitutional." 
   
   "A religious ban just goes against the American grain. We believe in immigrants in this country, and we don't believe in a religious test," Schumer said. "And finally, it hurts us economically. When immigrants don't come to this country, it hurts our job creation, our job growth. Silicon Valley is very worried that a lot of their jobs are going to have to go to Vancouver or Canada, where Canada has a much more forward looking immigration policy." ||||| FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2016 file photo, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stands in front of his airplane as he speaks during a rally in Bentonville, Ark. No matter what issue Trump... (Associated Press) 
   
   FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2016 file photo, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stands in front of his airplane as he speaks during a rally in Bentonville, Ark. No matter what issue Trump is addressing, he seems either to know somebody with a relevant personal experience or he’s got a firsthand... (Associated Press) 
   
   WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST): 
   
   11:05 a.m. 
   
   A top White House aide says it's not up to him to say whether President Donald Trump retains confidence in national security adviser Michael Flynn. 
   
   Policy director Stephen Miller says the White House didn't give him anything specific to say about Flynn during Miller's appearances on the Sunday news shows. Miller calls it "an important matter" and "a sensitive matter" best answered by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence or chief of staff Reince Priebus. 
   
   At issue is whether Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions in calls with Russia's ambassador while President Barack Obama was still in office. The conversations may have broken U.S. law aimed at barring private citizens from conducting diplomacy. 
   
   A Washington Post report last week contradicted Flynn's previous denials, as well as those made by Vice President Mike Pence in a televised interview. 
   
   ___ 
   
   9:35 a.m. 
   
   President Donald Trump is praising the actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers for the recent "enforcement surge" that officials say is targeting immigrants who are in the country illegally and have criminal records. 
   
   Trump tweets that "the crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!" 
   
   Advocacy groups contend the government has rounded large numbers of people as part of stepped-up enforcement. The agency calls the effort no different from enforcement actions carried out in the past. 
   
   Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that the emphasis is on deporting those he calls "criminal aliens" and who "pose a threat to public safety." 
   
   Miller says "we're going to focus on public safety and saving American lives and we will not apologize." 
   
   ___ 
   
   9:20 a.m. 
   
   President Donald Trump's chief policy adviser says the White House is exploring "all of our options" after a federal appeals court handed the administration a legal setback on Trump's executive order on immigration. 
   
   Stephen Miller tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that the White House could pursue "additional executive actions" — as Trump suggested on Friday — as well as judicial appeals. 
   
   Miller says the goal is to pursue "every single possible action to keep our country safe from terrorism." 
   
   He's also criticizing judges for taking "power for themselves that belong squarely in the hands" of the president.
target: – The White House wasn't exactly resounding on Sunday in its defense of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. "That's the question that I think you should ask the president, the question you should ask Reince [Priebus], the chief of staff," senior policy adviser Stephen Miller told Meet the Press on Sunday, per the Los Angeles Times, when asked if the White House still had confidence in Flynn. "So the White House did not give you anything to say," asked Chuck Todd. "They did not give me anything to say," Miller confirmed, which the Times notes is ominous given that he was the only White House rep made available to the Sunday talk shows. Miller calls it "an important matter" and "a sensitive matter," reports the AP. At issue is whether Flynn discussed US sanctions in calls with Russia's ambassador while President Obama was still in office. The conversations may have broken US law aimed at barring private citizens from conducting diplomacy. A Washington Post report last week contradicted Flynn's previous denials. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial: Miller says that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's emphasis is on deporting those he calls "criminal aliens" and who "pose a threat to public safety." Miller says "we're going to focus on public safety and saving American lives and we will not apologize." President Trump tweeted that "Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!" Miller says the White House is exploring "all of our options" after a federal appeals court handed the administration a legal setback on Trump's executive order on immigration. Chuck Schumer had succinct commentary on the travel ban, per Politico: "I think he ought to throw it in the trash," Schumer said. "I think this executive order is so bad and so poisoned and its genesis is so bad and terrible that he ought to just throw it in the trash can."