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Trump Adviser Stephen Miller Mum On Trump Confidence In Mike Flynn

Miller, who played a key role in drafting Trump's travel ban, declined to answer if the president is still confident in his National Security Advisor.
Image: Stephen Miller, senior adviser to President Donald Trump.t White House
Stephen Miller, senior adviser to President Donald Trump.JIM LO SCALZO / EPA

WASHINGTON — White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday would not answer a question about whether President Trump still has confidence in his National Security Advisor, retired Gen. Michael Flynn.

"That's the question that I think you should ask the president" or Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Miller told "Meet The Press" host Chuck Todd. "General Flynn has served his country admirably. He is a three-star general. He's head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. And I look forward to having more discussions about this in the future."

“I’m here today as a policy adviser," Miller added.

A senior intelligence official told NBC News that Flynn talked about hacking-related sanctions with Russia before Trump took office, which conflicts with statements by Vice President Mike Pence and White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

White House officials did not give Miller “anything to say” on the matter, he said. “Asked and answered, Chuck.”

“It’s not for me to tell you what’s on the president’s mind,” he said.

Asked whether misleading the president would be a fireable offense inside the Trump White House, Miller said it wasn’t up to him to answer hypothetical questions. “It wouldn't be responsible. It's a sensitive matter," he said.

After a federal appeals court upheld a lower court judge’s decision to freeze the Trump administration’s travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries, Miller said Sunday that officials are considering all of their options to put the ban back in place.

That could mean an appeal of the 9th Circuit Court decision, additional executive actions, or other options, Miller, who played a key role in drafting the controversial order, said.

The administration is “pursuing every single possible action to keep our country safe from terrorism,” he said, adding that he knows every branch of government is equal but "there’s no such thing as judicial supremacy. What the judges did, both at the 9th and at the district level was to take power for themselves that belongs squarely in the hands of the president of the United States."

Miller said he believes the president has the power to choose who enters the country, and that the seven nations were chosen “based upon the threat they assess today and in the future.”

“A district judge in Seattle cannot make immigration law for the United States,” Miller later claimed, saying he believes the judge can’t give foreign nationals immigration rights they do not have, and can’t prevent a president from stopping Syrian refugees from entering the country.

Miller made it clear that Trump administration immigration policy will not just prioritize felonies but also misdemeanors in deportations.

“What would you say to a family member who lost someone they loved because an illegal immigrant who'd been deported two times and had a misdemeanor conviction was allowed to come back into the country a third time because that wasn't deemed a priority and they lost someone they loved?" he asked. "Would you say, 'Well, I'm sorry. It didn't meet our priority scale.' We're going to focus on public safety and saving American lives and we will not apologize for that.”

Miller also made rounds on several other Sunday morning shows, including ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," where the two got into a heated exchange over Trump's false claims that millions illegally voted in the election. During a closed-door meeting on Friday, the president told senators that the "thousands" of people bused into New Hampshire from Massachusetts on election day prevented him from winning the state.

Asked whether the White House has evidence of voter fraud in the state, Miller said, “Having worked before on a campaign in New Hampshire, I can tell you that this issue of buses going into New Hampshire is widely known by anyone works in New Hampshire politics. It’s very real, it’s very serious."

He insisted that there are "massive numbers of non-citizens registered to vote" in the U.S. and "millions" of dead voters or voters registered in two states.

Stephanopoulos continued to press Miller, repeating that the White House has provided "zero evidence" of large-scale voter fraud and telling Miller, "Just for the record, you’ve provided absolutely no evidence."