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House Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questioned aspects of President Trump's order banning some refugees but generally supports Trump.(Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS, EPA)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Sunday questioned President Trumps move to sweep up green card holders in his temporary ban of visitors from several predominantly Muslim countries, but praised Trumps aggressive actions in the opening days of his presidency.

I support generally what hes doing, Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, told reporters. Hes off to a roaring start. I think its surprising a lot of people that he is actually doing what he said he was going to do, but there are those of us that actually support that.

Chaffetz said he did not understand why Trumps executive order to temporarily ban visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries also included permanent U.S. residents. People that have a green card supposedly already have been vetted, so there needs to be some further clarification, he said

Chaffetz is one of 11 elected officials attending a three-day summit of wealthy conservative donors aligned withbillionaire industrialists Charles Koch and David Koch. He met with reporters to tout his work with the Koch network to overhaul the criminal-justice system.

Another Utah Republican, Sen. Mike Lee, also joined the Koch gathering but declined to answer questions about Trumps immigration order, which has been met with legal challenges and protests in more than two dozen cities.

Chaffetzs comments came as a key Koch official publicly opposed the ban.

USA TODAY

Koch brothers network aims to raise $300M to $400M for conservative causes

"We believe it is possible to keep Americans safe without excluding people who wish to come here to contribute and pursue a better life for their families, Brian Hooks, a co-chairman of the Kochs seminar network said in a statement Sunday.

The travel ban is the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive, he said.

A day earlier, Koch officials had reserved judgment about the ban, saying they had not had time to review it.

USA TODAY

Protests against Trump's immigration plan rolling in more than 30 cities

Trumps executive order, signed Friday, suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days, stops admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely and bars entry for 90 days to residents from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Asked about the protests that have erupted following the immigration order, Chaffetz said protesters are in a bit of shock that Donald Trump is the president of the United States.

They are free to protest and exercise their First Amendment rights, he added, but so far, I think the president is on the right track."

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Prominent Republican at Koch event questions Trump order - USA TODAY

in his Holocaust Remembrance Day statement, President Donald Trump did not mention the approximately Jewish people at all. | AP Photo

Jewish Republicans on Sunday castigated President Donald Trump over decision to not mention Jews in its statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day with one prominent group calling on the White House to immediately rectify this painful omission.

On Friday, the president released a statement saying: It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust.

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Trump went on to pledge to do everything in my power throughout my presidency, and my life, to ensure that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of good. Yet, he did not mention the approximately six million Jews that perished.

On Sunday, a pair of influential Jewish Republican groups pushed back.

The Republican Jewish Coalition, a group that is heavily funded by GOP mega-donor and Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson, released a statement from a spokesman, Fred Brown, noting: "As supporters of President Trump, we know that he holds in his heart the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust, and is committed not just to their memory, but ensuring it never happens again.

"The lack of a direct statement about the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust was an unfortunate omission. History unambiguously shows the purpose of the Nazi's final solution was the extermination of the Jews of Europe, said the statement. We hope, going forward, he conveys those feelings when speaking about the Holocaust."

Also weighing in was Mort Klein, the national president of Zionist Organization of America.

Especially as a child of Holocaust survivors, I and ZOA are compelled to express our chagrin and deep pain at President Trump, in his Holocaust Remembrance Day Message, omitting any mention of anti-Semitism and the six million Jews who were targeted and murdered by the German Nazi regime and others, he said.

The administration has defended the decision, telling CNN over the weekend that "despite what the media reports, we are an incredibly inclusive group and we took into account all of those who suffered" in the Holocaust.

It pointed to an article which noted that non-Jewish people were also killed by the Nazis.

Appearing Sunday on NBCs "Meet the Press," White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said he did not regret the wording of the statement. He also noted that some members of Trumps family alluding to son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and daughter, Ivanka are Jewish.

I mean, everyone's suffering in the Holocaust including obviously all of the Jewish people affected and the miserable genocide that occurred is something that we consider to be extraordinarily sad and something that can never be forgotten, Priebus added.

Klein said his organization was shocked by Priebuss decision to defend the statement and called it disgraceful.

In interviews over the weekend, several other prominent Jewish Republicans said they were concerned by Trumps Holocaust message.

Ari Fleischer, who was press secretary in the George W. Bush White House, said Trump officials missed an opportunity to clarify Trumps comments during their appearances on Sunday morning news programs.

I wish they fixed it on the shows this morning. Obviously they didnt, he said. The omission was a mistake. I hope they learn from this and not repeat this omission in any future statements they make.

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Jewish Republicans chide Trump on Holocaust statement - Politico

New York Times

In Private, Republican Lawmakers Agonize Over Health Law Repeal New York Times WASHINGTON Congressional Republicans, meeting behind closed doors this week in Philadelphia, expressed grave concerns about dismantling the Affordable Care Act on the urgent timetable demanded by President Trump, fretting that, among other ... Behind closed doors, Republican lawmakers fret about how to ...Washington Post The Republicans' overdue realization: Health care reform is hardMSNBC Republican split on Obamacare strategy evident during private meetingPolitico Huffington Post -Los Angeles Times -CNBC all 1,164 news articles »

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In Private, Republican Lawmakers Agonize Over Health Law Repeal - New York Times

RICHMOND On a day when antiabortion activists were marching in Washington, a Republican running for governor in Virginia attacked one of his rivals as soft on the issue.

Ed Gillespie and Corey Stewart, two of the four Republicans in the race, both call themselves pro-life and took part in the annual March for Life on Friday. On the eve of the march, each was asked about his stance on a bill before the General Assembly that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks.

Stewart told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that as governor he would sign it. Gillespie said he would support such a ban if it made exceptions for rape, incest or when the mothers life was in danger. The bill before Virginias legislature calls for an exception only for the life of the mother.

In response, Stewart posted a video on Facebook accusing Gillespie of supporting late-term abortions and calling on him to drop out of the race.

[Trump win shakes up race for Virginia governor]

My opponent, Ed Gillespie, Establishment Ed, just came out that he would not sign a bill prohibiting late-term abortions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Stewart said on the video. I believe that life is sacred from the moment of conception. There should be no exceptions. ... I just am having a hard time understanding how Ed Gillespie can call himself a conservative, how he can call himself a Catholic, how he can call himself, frankly, even a good man.

Stewarts attack drew swift condemnation from some of Virginias most prominent antiabortion voices. Among them was Del. David LaRock (R-Loudoun), who sponsored the bill calling for the ban on abortions after 20 weeks.

@CoreyStewartVA, this is patently false, LaRock tweeted. You should be ashamed.

Republican delegates Jackson H. Miller, Timothy D. Hugo and Kathy J. Byron all vocal antiabortion legislators also rallied around Gillespie

@CoreyStewartVA you are a good friend of mine, but you know this is simply not true, Miller tweeted.

State Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Rockingham) summed up Stewarts attack as: More of the same crazy, divisive and self-serving hyperbole from @CoreyStewartVA that got him fired as Trump Chair.

Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, also served as chairman of President Trumps Virginia election campaign. He was ousted before Election Day for his role in an unauthorized protest outside of Republican National Committee headquarters.

Gillespie, a former RNC chairman and counselor to President George W. Bush, did not respond directly, but he tweeted a picture of himself taken with Vice President Pence, who addressed antiabortion marchers Friday.

Was honored to be with my friend @VP @mike-Pence after his historic speech at the #MarchForLife, Gillespie tweeted.

Shaun Kenney, a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia, paired that tweet with one from Stewart that said: Vice President Pence just drove by at March for Life!

Thats gotta hurt, Kenney said. Wonder if @CoreyStewartVA waved at @EdWGillespie when he did.

Gillespie also appears in a photo tweeted by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the antiabortion Susan B. Anthony List.

With my friend #prolife #Catholic @EdWGillespie at the #marchforlife, she wrote.

In an interview, Stewart stood by his criticism of Gillespies position.

How can you possibly support exceptions on late-term abortion? he said. This is at 20weeks. And an exception is a gaping wide-open hole. ... Anybody who would allow an abortion under any circumstance for a baby thats five months old 20 weeks old cannot call themselves pro-life.

Stewart was dismissive of the tweeted photo of Gillespie with Pence, calling it proof that his rival is a classic Washington insider, not an antiabortion crusader.

He knows everybody, Stewart said. He always has.

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One Republican running for Va. governor attacks another on abortion - Washington Post

Recent court decisions in three statesare putting carefully carved Republican-drawn state legislative districts at risk and could even threaten the entire process of partisan map drawing.

On Friday, a federal court ordered Wisconsin legislaturesto redraw their state House legislative districts after finding in November the districts were unconstitutionally partisan. The order will essentially require lawmakers to redraw state Senate maps as well.

The November decision was the first timethis decade that a court has thrown out legislative maps because they favored voters of one party over another. Subsequently, this will be the first time in a decade lawmakers will have to redraw maps specifically to make them more fair for both parties.

Thirty-seven states allow theirlegislatures draw their electoral maps, and what these lawmakers have come up with hashad a profoundimpact on American politics. After capturing 21 chambers in the 2010 elections, Republicansredrew nearly half of all congressional districts -- four times as many as Democrats.

Over the ensuing years, control of state legislative chambers flipped from 2-to-1 Democratic controlled to 2-to-1 Republican controlled, and Democrats have been locked out of the majority in key swing states ever since. In many states, their only hope to make it back to the table to redraw maps after the 2020 census is by winning competitive governor's races.

Wisconsin Democrats, who are in the minority in the legislature, were hoping the court would redraw the maps itself, buthaving a second shot at these maps is better than nothing.

As such, they aredemanding public hearings on the map-drawing process totry to keep a check on it.

"What we cannot and will not tolerate is another map drawn behind closed doors," Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D) said in a statement.

Wisconsin is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation. In 2012, Democratic candidates for the Wisconsin state legislature received more votes than Republicans in November but won just 39 of 99 districts.

[The Democratic Party's future could be on the line in 7 hugely important governor's races]

Republicans plan to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, and it's anyone's guess how they'll decide, said Doug Johnson, a redistricting expert atClaremont McKenna College. He said justices have shied away from declaring partisanship because they haven't agreed on a way tospecifically measure what constitutes disproportionately burdening one members of a part over another.

In Maryland, a federal court is preparing to hear arguments that several congressional districts were drawn by Democrats to unfairly benefit their party.

"There's certainly a lot rolling toward the Supreme Court," he said. "We just have no idea whether the court will get on board or continue to avoid this question."

The news Wisconsin lawmakers will have to redraw their state legislative maps comes almost exactly a week after a federal court found a dozen state legislative districts in Alabama were unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered. (The Democratic judge on that panel wrote that he would have thrown out 24 districts.) All 12 of the districts thrown out were represented by Democrats, and 10 by African American legislators.

This court also left it up to the state legislature to redraw the districts, but because there are so many in question, the order would likely require lawmakers to redraw all state House and Senate districts. Here too, Democrats are thankful for a second chance.

"Were thankful for the opportunity to look at this," Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross (D) told the Montgomery Adviser.

North Carolina is no stranger to legal jousting overgerrymandering; lawmakers had to redraw two congressional districts last year after a federal court found them racially gerrymandered.

This time, they'recurrently awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court about whether to redraw and hold special elections this spring for 28 of its state legislative districts, which a federal court found last summer were unconstitutionally gerrymandered, again because of race.

The three-judge panel made the unusual decision to let the election go forward because it decided it was too late to redraw the maps. After the election, the court ordered the legislature to redraw the lines by March and hold special elections later in 2017.

Republican legislative leaders successfully managed to get the Supreme Court to pause those elections until it decides whether the districts were indeed gerrymandered.

Over the past few years, courts have been litigating a steady stream of gerrymandering claims. But as we near a 2020 census, which brings with it a new chance to draw district maps, their decisionswill be more closely watched than ever.

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Republican redistricting is taking a beating in the courts right now - Washington Post