The former president first said he had been diagnosed with the disease in August.

Former President Jimmy Carter has announced that his cancer is "gone" after being diagnosed with the disease over the summer.

Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

"My most recent MRI brain scan did not reveal any signs of the original cancer spots nor any new ones," he said, adding he will continue immunotherapy treatments.

Carter first made the announcement while teaching a Sunday School class at his church in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The Jimmy Carter Library later shared the newspaper's article on its official Twitter account.

Jill Stuckey, a friend of Carter's and a fellow member of the Maranatha Baptist Church, told the newspaper that the former president told the group "he got a scan this week and the cancer was gone."

"The church, everybody here, just erupted in applause," she said.

She said about 350 people were in the room when he made the announcement.

The 91-year-old announced in August that doctors discovered he had cancer when he was having liver surgery.

Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

"They tell him that recent tests have shown there is no evidence of new malignancy, and his original problem is responding well to treatment," the center said in a statement.

The statement said Carter would be having further tests done.

The Carter Center did not respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.

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Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the president is also going to ask Congress to consider new gun control measures.

Watch Obama's address here:

youtube.com

For just the third time in his presidency, Barack Obama is scheduled to address the nation in a televised address from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. ET Sunday night.

According to Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, the speech will touch on the recent deadly attack in San Bernardino, California, as well as steps being taken to fight ISIS

"The president will also discuss the broader threat of terrorism, including the nature of the threat, how it has evolved, and how we will defeat it," Earnest said in a statement to reporters on Saturday evening. "He will reiterate his firm conviction that [ISIS] will be destroyed and that the United States must draw upon our values — our unwavering commitment to justice, equality and freedom — to prevail over terrorist groups that use violence to advance a destructive ideology."

The speech comes after 14 people were killed in San Bernardino by two Muslim suspects who officials believe had become radicalized. Additionally, after last month's deadly terror attacks by ISIS in Paris, Obama reiterated his commitment to defeating Islamic fundamentalist terrorists.

On Saturday, the White House said intelligence officials had not uncovered any indication the suspected San Bernardino killers "were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell."

However, the shooting in San Bernardino, as well as a number of deadly mass shootings in the U.S. this year, have also reignited calls for tougher gun control measures.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch told NBC's Meet the Press earlier on Sunday that she expected the president to ask Congress to "review measures and take action." Her staff later told the network she was referring to measures on gun control.

"What you're going to hear from him is a discussion about what government is doing to ensure all of our highest priority — the protection of the American people," Lynch said.

Even the young grandson is holding a handgun in the holiday snap.

A lawmaker in Nevada is getting some attention online after she revealed her family's Christmas card on her Facebook page.

Michele Fiore / Via facebook.com

Michele Fiore, an assemblywoman representing Clark County Assembly District 4 in Nevada's legislature, had her entire family pose with guns for the holiday snap.

View Video ›

facebook.com

"It's up to Americans to protect America. We're just your ordinary American family," Fiore captioned the photo.

Even her young grandson, Jake, touts a weapon that she identifies in the photo as a Walther P22 semi-automatic handgun.

Michele Fiore / Via facebook.com

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Pool / Getty Images

In an Oval Office address to the nation Sunday night, President Obama once again called for banning those on the no-fly list from purchasing guns.

"Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun," Obama said in an address on combatting terrorism and Islamic State. "What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of national security."

In the wake of terrorism attacks in Paris and most recently in San Bernardino, California, on Dec. 2, Obama has repeatedly called for closing what his administration calls a "loophole" that allows those on the no-fly list to purchase guns.

Republicans and civil libertarians argue that terror watch-lists, which are secret and extremely difficult to be removed from, are not an appropriate tool for curbing the Second Amendment rights of American citizens.

"The majority of the people on the no-fly list are often times people that just basically have the same name as somebody else who doesn't belong on the no-fly list," GOP presidential candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday. "Former Sen. Ted Kennedy once said he was on a no-fly list. There are journalists on the no-fly list."

Senate Democrats introduced legislation in December that would bar those on terror watch-lists from buying guns, but Republicans voted it down, along with several other gun control measures.

“Shockingly, Republicans continue to preserve a loophole that allows FBI terror suspects to buy guns and explosives legally, without background checks," Democrat Senate minority leader Harry Reid said in a statement in November. "As we speak, a terrorist on the FBI’s terror watch list can walk into a gun show in your hometown and buy as many AK-47s and explosives as they need to commit the kind of mass, heinous slaughter of innocents we witnessed in Paris and which we know terrorists want to perpetrate here in America."

LINK: Obama Defends Strategy To Destroy ISIS Without “Giving Into Fear”

LINK: Here’s The Transcript Of Obama’s Oval Office Address After The San Bernardino Shootings

LINK: Obama: Americans Must “Reject Discrimination” After San Bernardino “Terrorism”

President Obama gave a speech on Sunday night about the threat posed by ISIS. It also happens to be the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday celebrating the defeat of the Selucid Empire at the hands of the Judean rebels known as the Maccabees.

Just days after his candidate delivered a speech loaded with Jewish stereotypes to a group of Jewish Republicans, Trump adviser Daniel Scavino Jr. said it was "disrespectful" of the president to give a major speech when Jews are celebrating Hanukkah:

But his suggestion would actually be disrespectful.

Hanukkah is a holiday of minimal religious significance to Jews — its cultural importance in the United States is largely due to its proximity to Christmas. (It helps Jewish kids not feel left out when their Christian friends are getting a whole bunch of presents.)

On the other hand, Shabbat, which begins on Friday night and ends on Saturday night, is very important to Jews.

Keeping the Sabbath holy is one of the Ten Commandments, and many Jews refrain from using technology during Shabbat.

So...they wouldn't be able to watch the speech.

Something that Twitter immediately noticed.

“He’s got a lead and it’s not a lead that’s temporary.”

Afp / AFP / Getty Images

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Former Vice President Dan Quayle says Donald Trump is the man to beat in the Republican presidential primary and that he could possibly be the nominee.

"Well the race has got to narrow, the sooner, the better," Quayle, who served under President George H.W. Bush, said on AM970's Cats Roundtable on Sunday. "I never tell anybody specifically to get out of the race or when to get out, but eventually it's gonna come down to three or four candidates, and eventually probably two or three, and then there'll be the final two."

Quayle said that by March the field would probably only have two or three candidates left.

"But if you look at it today, Donald Trump's the man to beat," said Quayle. "He's got a lead and it's not a lead that's temporary. He's had this lead for four months. And I don't think people probably know this but he's been interested in office for a long time."

Quayle said Trump let George H.W. Bush know that he was interested in being his vice presidential pick during the 1988 election. That year, Trump eventually endorsed Bush and appeared at the Republican nominating convention.

"I think Republicans and others got to realize that he's gonna be there for a long time. He could possibly be the nominee, I don't know, front-runners have a time, or a proclivity, to evaporate once the votes are taken," Quayle said. "We'll just have to see what happens this time. It will be a competitive race."

"You've got Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, he's had his challenges. And there's always Jeb Bush that everyone knows is extraordinarily qualified to be president. Did a wonderful job as governor of the state of Florida, whether he can make a comeback we'll have to wait and see," Quayle, who is a supporter of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said.

“I trust Turkey probably less than I trust Russia.”

Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images

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Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says Turkey's president will have to go if he is doing business with ISIS.

A week after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet on the Syrian border, Russian officials accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of profiting from illegal oil trade with ISIS.

"I trust Turkey probably less than I trust Russia," Huckabee said on Breitbart News Radio last week. "The Turks have always played both sides and I think Erdogan is one of those people that said one one thing publicly and done something else privately."

"If we find out that in fact he is helping to finance ISIS he's got to go, and I think that we make it very clear we're not gonna be partners with and be a part of helping to arm him, to protect him, if he in turn is loading the guns of barrels of guns pointed at us," he said. "We're just not gonna do it."

Earlier in the interview, Huckabee said he does not trust Putin, but was willing to work with Russia to help defeat ISIS militants in Syria.

"I don't trust Putin," Huckabee said on Breitbart News Radio last week. "I don't trust Russia, but if Russia is willing to help us kill some of these savages, then I'm more than willing to at least recognize that on this issue — maybe not on much else — but on this issue they are with us not against us."

“We saw the president lecture the American people like some condescending schoolmarm about the need to avoid Islamophobia.”

Scott Olson / Getty Images

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Republican presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz compared President Obama to a "condescending schoolmarm" for his call on Sunday evening to reject discrimination against Muslims.

On the Mike Gallagher Show on Monday, Cruz said Obama's Oval Office address showed that the president was "so out of touch and so unprepared and unwilling to defend this nation it makes the next year extraordinary dangerous."

"We saw the president lecture the American people like some condescending schoolmarm about the need to avoid Islamophobia," said Cruz.

On Sunday evening, Obama said, "But just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans, of every faith, to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like ISIL."

Cruz said the right response is to acknowledge radical Islamic terrorism and lay out an aggressive plan to defeat ISIS.

"What we need is a commander-in-chief who stands up and, number one, doesn't engage in politically correct double speak, doesn't refuse to say the world radical Islamic terrorism, as Obama, and Hillary, and all the Democrats do," Cruz said.

"But, number two, says we will defeat ISIS," he continued. "We are gonna carpet bomb them into oblivion. We are gonna arm the Kurds. We are gonna go and find them, and hunt them down, and kill them."

"That is the right response," said Cruz, adding that Democrats offer apologies and justifications for ISIS while going after the Second Amendment rights of U.S. citizens.

This is the 2015 Year in Political Twitter data you’re looking for.

In 2015, the political news on Twitter was mostly about this dude.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Given his celebrity, Trump was starting with a lot of followers anyway, but he had the had the most followers of any candidate (5.05 million), and had gained the most followers during the year (around 2.5 million).

How Trump's total number of followers stacks up among active candidates (total number of new followers in 2015 in parentheses):

@RealDonaldTrump - 5.05M (2,493,523)
@HillaryClinton - 4.75M (2,412,771)
@RealBenCarson - 1.04M (795,008)
@MarcoRubio - 992k (631,593)
@BernieSanders - 937k (939,571)
@RandPaul - 726k (258,553)
@CarlyFiorina - 632k (294,831)
@tedcruz - 615k (316,031)
@GovMikeHuckabee - 427k (99,214)
@JebBush 382k (251,249)
@RickSantorum - 248k (36,160)
@JohnKasich - 146k (85,271)
@MartinOMalley - 110k (58,567)
@GovernorPataki - 81k (74,239)
@ChrisChristie - 69k (51,251)
@LindseyGrahamSC - 31k (19,870)
@gov_gilmore - 2k (2,355)

View Entire List ›

“Hillary Clinton is, you know, more in the game with all of the corporations, which I’m against.”

A Bernie Sanders poster adorns the front of Area Kids' store in Park Slope.

Andrew Kaczynski/BuzzFeed News

Loretta Gendville, the owner of a small Brooklyn chain of kids stores where Hillary Clinton bought her granddaughter a dress this spring, isn't going to support the Democratic front-runner just because she's a customer.

A "Bernie for President" poster, which Gendville found in the free section on Craigslist, is displayed in the front of the Park Slope location of Area Kids, a store that sells clothing and toys, and describes itself as "a proponent of creativity, play, and sustainable living." They ask customers to "BYOB" (bring your own bag).

"I mean, Hillary Clinton came into my store, but I don't have Clinton signs," she told BuzzFeed News on Monday. "I guess I would say that I, as the owner of Area Kids, am supporting Bernie Sanders."

Gendville at first said she was still "on the fence" and spoke admiringly of the "magnetism" of Hillary and Bill Clinton, but also offered a strong critique of the former first lady.

"He's more, you know, anti-corporation," Gendville said of Sanders. "Hillary Clinton is, you know, more in the game with all of the corporations, which I'm against. She's bankrolled by the corporations, all the funding and stuff."

"But I do like Hillary Clinton," she added. "I think she's a really smart lady."

Gendville said she was told beforehand that Clinton was coming to her store this past May, but she wasn't in the store when the former secretary of state visited the location in Brooklyn Heights to buy her granddaughter a $29.50 dress from the "Tea Collection" line. An employee of that store, who wasn't there either at the time, said her colleague on duty was "a little freaked out" when the Secret Service came through the front door. There are no Sanders posters to be found at the Brooklyn Heights location.

Despite her preference for Sanders, Gendville's greatest wish this election cycle is that a certain New Yorker is kept out of the nation's highest office.

"We just don't want Trump," she said.

Mike Mcginnis / Getty Images

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Chris Christie used two sports analogies on Monday to critique President Obama's strategy against ISIS, likening it first to a once-effective college basketball strategy and, secondly, to a defensive alignment used in football.

“And let me tell everybody, because I heard you talking sports also, right before I came on," Christie said on New Hampshire Today. "Here’s the president: the president on offense against terrorism plays the Four Corners. He plays stall ball. And on defense, to defend the homeland, he plays a prevent defense. And we all know who are football fans, the only thing a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning."

The Four Corners offense, in which four players stall while the point guard brings the ball into the middle of the floor, was rendered obsolete in college basketball by introduction of the shot clock. Meanwhile, the prevent defense is most commonly used by football teams hoping to preserve a lead late in a game by preventing large gains by the offensive team.

In the interview, Christie also said his reaction to Obama's Sunday night address on the threat presented by ISIS was, "Much ado about nothing."

"Much ado about nothing, Jack," he said. "You know, the shame of it is that the president when we’re hit with the worst terrorist attack on our soil since September 11th, 2001, spent a good amount of his time talking about gun control last night. It’s absurd."

An officer from the Transportation Security Administration checks travel documents for passengers traveling through Reagan National Airport on November 25, 2015.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union is taking no position on legislation that would bar people from buying guns if they are on the federal government's no-fly list — a list that the ACLU has spent the past five years arguing is unconstitutional.

In recent weeks, legislation to prevent people on the no-fly list from buying guns has been backed by President Obama and largely supported by congressional Democrats. But the ACLU isn't taking a position.

"We don’t have a position on the legislation in question, but ... have many criticisms of the overall watchlisting system as it currently operates," ACLU's media strategist Josh Bell told BuzzFeed News.

"There is no constitutional bar to reasonable regulation of guns, and the No Fly List could serve as one tool for it, but only with major reform," said Hina Shamsi, the director of the ACLU National Security Project.

Shamsi made the comment despite the group's ongoing lawsuit against the list — which she argued can have a "devastating" effect on those who find themselves on it.

"The government puts people on the No Fly List using vague and overbroad standards," she said, adding that "it is wrongly blacklisting innocents without giving them a fair process to correct government error."

A hearing on the ACLU's case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in federal court in Oregon.

"Our No Fly List lawsuit seeks to establish a meaningful opportunity for our clients to challenge their placement on the list, which is error-prone and has had a devastating impact on their lives," Shamsi stated.

The lawsuit was filed in 2010 and has included significant victories for the ACLU's arguments against the list.

Notably, in 2010, the ACLU testified against "the use of terror watch lists to screen gun purchases," writing that the "deeply flawed" terror watch list process led the group to conclude, "Given these problems, we do not believe that anyone should be deprived of the right to purchase a gun, or the right to fly, or any other benefit of membership in civil society based solely on placement on a terror watch list."

In June 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown found in a partial ruling in the lawsuit that the procedural protections provided by the no-fly list "fall far short of satisfying the requirements of due process."

Wednesday's hearing will cover whether the revised procedures put in place since then still render the protections unconstitutional.

The ACLU argued in filings and will argue in court that the program remains unconstitutional.

ACLU's 2010 statement:

ACLU / Via aclu.org

“And yet, that really is, I think, the attitude of too many members of this administration, probably the president himself, that we have brought Islamic terrorist attacks on ourselves, from of our actions, because of our freedom, because of our liberty, because of the way we conduct ourselves.”

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said on Monday that many in the White House and "probably" President Obama himself believe that U.S. actions are to blame for Islamic terrorist attacks in the country.

Responding to a question from radio host Charlie Sykes about Obama's refusal to acknowledge "what we've been doing has not been effective" when it comes to ISIS, the Wisconsin senator said, "Based on his speech last night I think the answer to your question is yes, he is locked into his strategy of peace through withdrawal, leading from behind."

Johnson then turned his attention to the Obama administration's "mindset," noting past comments from Secretary of State John Kerry contrasting the Charlie Hebdo attack and the attack on Paris in November.

"Here's another thing, you hear Secretary Kerry musing about the Paris attacks, talking about Charlie Hebdo, and again, these are his words not mine, saying, 'well you know, you see some of the legitimacy, well not legitimacy, but some rationale for the Charlie Hebdo attack.'"

"No Mr. Secretary, there's not rational for slaughtering people because they published satire in cartoons," said Johnson.

"And yet, that really is, I think, the attitude of too many members of this administration, probably the president himself, that we have brought Islamic terrorist attacks on ourselves, from of our actions, because of our freedom, because of our liberty, because of the way we conduct ourselves," Johnson said. "That is wrong thinking and I think it's why you get a lecture on political correctness in a speech when I really think the American was looking for a, 'hey, what's the strategy for defeating this evil?'"

“The war is very complicated, there has to be an understanding of the underlying nature of this war, and my view of what Mr. Trump is saying about how to fight the war is really in many ways worse than what Obama is proposing, so experience does matter.”

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

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Republican presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Friday that Donald Trump's proposals to defeat ISIS are "in many ways worse" than President Obama's.

"Here's the problem," Graham said. "The war is very complicated, there has to be an understanding of the underlying nature of this war, and my view of what Mr. Trump is saying about how to fight the war is really in many ways worse than what Obama is proposing, so experience does matter."

Graham, who polls often show as having less than one percent support, said that "the idea of Donald Trump," which he said was an image of "a no-nonsense guy," was "alluring to people."

"I would just say, he's been a very effective candidate, selling himself, marketing this image of a strongman at home and abroad," Graham said on The Michael Medved Show. "And here I am at one percent, and I'm just telling you, after 36 trips to the region, after dedicating my adult life to this issue, that I have a plan to destroy ISIL that is fundamentally different than Obama and Donald Trump, that what Mr. Trump is proposing is just inconsistent. He goes from one extreme to the other."

"I think people are voting for the image of a strongman," Graham said. "A man who's been successful in business, who's a no-nonsense guy, who's gonna take the fight to the enemy. The idea of Donald Trump is alluring to people. Washington is really broken. It's very dysfunctional. This man is coming out of the private sector, he's very tough-minded, good negotiator, and not gonna give any quarter to the enemy. I think the image of a Donald Trump is what people are voting for."

Scott Olson / Getty Images

On Monday, Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the U.S. until the country “can figure out what is going on.”

Via donaldjtrump.com

In recent weeks, Trump has attacked Muslims repeatedly following the attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino, California. He's called for the surveillance and closure of mosques, expressed support when asked about the possibility of a Muslim registry, and repeatedly and falsely claimed that "thousands" of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the fall of the World Trade Center in 2001.

Trump has been defiant in the face of criticism, and on Monday, as a poll showed the Republican down in Iowa where he's held an advantage for months, said the United States should stop all Muslims from entering the United States.

His campaign manager told the Associated Press this would apply to everyone, including tourists. According to The Hill, Trump's plan would also apply to Americans abroad who happen to be Muslim.

In a tweet, Trump called the proposal a "very important policy statement":

Several of Trump's GOP presidential rivals reacted to Trump's proposal on Monday afternoon.

Former governor of Florida Jeb Bush called Trump "unhinged":

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio expressed his disagreement in a tweet:

Ben Carson's communications director Doug Watts said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that Carson "would not advocate" keeping out immigrants based on religion.

"Everyone visiting our country should register and be monitored during their stay as is done in many countries," Watts said. "We do not and would not advocate being selective on one’s religion."

Asked for comment on Trump's proposal, Ted Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler sent a link to a November 18 press release announcing Cruz's Terrorist Refugee Infiltration Prevention Act, saying "Here is Cruz's position." Cruz's bill would block refugees coming from any country that "contains terrorist-controlled territory," like Iraq or Syria.

On the Michael Medved Show, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called Trump's position "ridiculous."

"There’s no question in my mind, but there are folks in this race who don’t care about what the law says because they’re used to being able to just fire people indiscriminately on television," Christie said. "So, they don’t have to worry about laws say or not say."

"And you do not need to be banning Muslims from the country," Christie added. "That’s, in my view, that’s a ridiculous position and one that won’t even be productive."

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul did not criticize Trump in a statement responding to the plan:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the proposal was just more of the same from Trump:

In a series of tweets, underdog candidate Lindsey Graham condemned Trump's statement and called for other candidates to do the same:

In Iowa, Carly Fiorina called Trump's proposal an overreaction:

Others were quick to denounce Trump's comments.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said Trump's plan "makes us less safe":

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also responded in a statement on Monday, saying, “Demagogues throughout our history have attempted to divide us based on race, gender, sexual orientation or country of origin. Now, Trump and others want us to hate all Muslims. The United States is a great nation when we stand together. We are a weak nation when we allow racism and xenophobia to divide us.”

New Hampshire GOP Chairman Jennifer Horn called Trump's comments "un-Republican" and "un-American."

Robert McCaw, a spokesman and government affairs manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also called Trump's comments un-American, saying, "It's totally un-American to deny anyone the chance to become an American citizen on the basis of their religion."

"The fact that Trump relies on the Center for Security Policy — an organization listed a a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — speaks volumes about who Trump listens to when it comes to being informed about Muslims," he said.

McCaw said that his group and other Muslim leaders might have to stop responding to Trump's comments all together because it only seems to encourage him to talk even more about Muslim-Americans in a negative way. "Frankly, we're a little tired of responding everyday to what Trump says."

When asked about Trump's proposal, a top White House aide said he wasn't sure if the administration would offer a direct response to Trump's plan. But he noted the President Obama's comments from the Oval Office Sunday night, where he warned against discriminating against Muslims in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings.

"It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose," Obama said. "Muslim-Americans are our friends and our neighbors, our co- workers, our sports heroes. And, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that."

LINK: Trump Says Falsely That New Jersey Arabs “Cheered” On 9/11

“They see [Obama] in many respects, the policies he’s put forward, as an ally.”

youtube.com

Republican presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said Monday the Islamic State views President Obama as an ally because of his policies.

"When they listed me in their publication as an enemy of ISIS they did so because I accurately described who they are, and I accurately described why we have to defeat them," Santorum said on NewsMaxTV on Monday. "They see that as the threat, that's an enemy.

"They see [Obama] in many respects, the policies he's put forward, as an ally," the former senator and Christian movie studio executive continued.

Santorum, who is still running for president, was once quoted in ISIS' online magazine.

"The Obama policy is to contain ISIS," Santorum said, adding the president wanted to "allow them to keep their territory."

Santorum concluded that allowing ISIS to keep their territory would let them say they stood up to the U.S., which he said would be "the most powerful tool they have."

And people are weighing in.

This is Jeb Bush, former Florida governor and current Republican presidential candidate.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Those interested in Bush, or his campaign can find his official website at Jeb2016.com.

jeb2016.com

The website "JebBush.com" is now re-directing users to the campaign website for his opponent Donald Trump.

donaldjtrump.com

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Frank Gaffney testifies at the US Senate in July 2013.

Paul J. Richards / Via AFP / Getty Images

When Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States Monday — including American citizens currently abroad — he cited a June 2015 poll from the Center for Security Policy claiming that a quarter of Muslim Americans support violence against the U.S., and that more than half believe Muslims should be governed according to Islamic law.

The Center for Security Policy is a conservative think-tank that has long alleged that American Muslims are a threat to U.S. security. Frank Gaffney, its founder and a former Reagan era-assistant secretary of defense, has testified in court on behalf of those seeking to prevent the construction of mosques by arguing that Islam was not a religion. He's also written that President Barack Obama "may still be" a Muslim, and was banned from the Conservative Political Action Conference for alleging that its founder, activist Grover Norquist, was an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Gaffney as "gripped by paranoid fantasies about Muslims destroying the West from within."

Nevertheless, Gaffney has maintained some influence on Capitol Hill, particularly among some House Republicans who share his views on Islam. In 2010, Gaffney presented a report to several members of Congress arguing that "radical Muslims are using Islamic law to subvert the United States" and implying that the Obama administration was "promoting the same totalitarian ideology and seditious agenda as al Qaeda[.]"

Asked whether Gaffney or CSP supports Trump's proposal, spokesperson Alex VanNess told BuzzFeed News that "We do not take a position. We serve to educate people on the legitimate threat posed by Jihad and the doctrine of Sharia." (Though interpretations of Islamic law vary among Muslims, the CSP is almost always referring to the strictest and harshest interpretations).

Gaffney's influence seemed to fade after prominent Republicans objected to an attempt by Gaffney and other anti-Muslim activists to tie Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to the Muslim Brotherhood, but the rise of ISIS has created new space for his brand of advocacy.

Notably, the Center for Security Policy Poll Trump cited differs markedly from a 2011 Pew survey of American Muslims, which concluded that most of the U.S. Muslim population rejects "violence and extremism" and is almost as concerned about Islamic extremism as the general population. Similarly, a Gallup poll from 2011 found that Muslims were less likely than members of other religions to see violence as justifiable.

Yet on the basis of the Center for Security Policy's poll, Trump has called for banning all Muslim entry to the United States, including American citizens currently abroad.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

In a press conference Tuesday morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's proposal to ban all Muslims entering the United States.

“Freedom of religion is fundamental constitutional principle. It’s a founding principle of this country,” Ryan said. "Normally, I do not comment on what's going on in the presidential election. I will take an exception today. This is not conservatism. What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for. And more importantly, it's not what this country stands for."

"Not only are there many Muslims serving in our armed forces dying for this country, there are Muslims serving right here in the House working every day to uphold and to defend the Constitution," Ryan continued. "Some of our best and biggest allies in this struggle and fight against radical Islamic terror are Muslims — the vast, vast, vast majority of whom are peaceful, who believe in pluralism, freedom, democracy, individual rights."

Later in the press conference, Ryan was asked by a reporter if he would back Trump if he was the nominee, to which Ryan responded, "I'm going to support whoever the Republican nominee is, and I'm going to stand up for what I believe in as I do that."

Ryan's comments are the latest — but one of the strongest — in a series of rejections from many Republicans leaders at the national, state, and local level of Trump's plan, announced on Monday.

"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a statement released from his campaign read.

“I think it’s a mistake to base immigration or moratoriums based on religion. But you know, I’ve called for something similar, which is a moratorium based on high risk.”

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

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Rand Paul said on Tuesday that, while basing an immigration moratorium on religion was a "mistake," he had already "called for something similar."

The Republican presidential candidate and Kentucky senator was commenting on Donald Trump's statement, released on Monday. Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."

"I think it's a mistake to base immigration or moratoriums based on religion," Paul said on New Hampshire Today radio. "But you know, I've called for something similar, which is a moratorium based on high risk. And so we have examined where the high risk of terrorism comes from and it's about 34 countries. I would put a pause on all immigration from those 34 countries."

Paul said that "all the hoopla" about Trump's proposal was "interesting" and that "people don't seem to understand that a similar concept" in the form of his bill, titled the Stop Extremists Coming Under Refugee Entry Act, has already come to a vote.

"And I have actually introduced legislation and got a vote on it," he said. "I had a vote on it just last week, which is kind of interesting, all the hoopla, because people don't seem to understand that a similar concept has already been voted on."

The bill didn't pass the Senate, which voted against it 10-89.

"I think it is a good idea to put a pause on immigration because I think that we don't have a good handle on who's here now," Paul continued. "I think we don't have a good handle on who's entering the country and whether they're obeying our laws."