US politics live: Donald Trump clarifies his intentions regarding Gaza, infighting erupts inside Democratic Party

One of Barack Obama’s top staffers is at the centre of a new spat that’s erupted inside the Democratic Party, as the new US President forges on.

Another day, another seventeen dramas. Welcome, once again, to our live coverage of US politics and the early weeks of the Trump administration.

Yes, we are still in the early weeks, by the way. I know it feels like six months have passed. In fact, Donald Trump has been President for about two-and-a-half weeks. Perhaps time and space are being subtly warped around us.

Among today’s more important developments, Mr Trump has clarified his intentions regarding the Gaza Strip, having suggested earlier this week, during a press conference with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the United States should take control of it, ejecting the Palestinian populace of about two million people into neighbouring Arab countries.

Top figures in the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, followed up Mr Trump’s initial remarks by saying he meant for the displacement to be “temporary”. The Palestinians leave Gaza, America rebuilds it, then they come back. That sort of thing.

In a post on social media today, Mr Trump appeared to contradict them.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of the fighting,” Mr Trump said.

“The US, working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth,” Mr Trump said.

“No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”

The insistence that no soldiers would be required is significant. The assumption from experts trying to parse Mr Trump’s comments earlier in the week was that tens of thousands of troops would be required to maintain security during the United States’ occupation of Gaza.

Donald Trump with Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

Elsewhere Mr Trump’s opponents, the Democrats, are engaging in a less than edifying but maybe productive new round of infighting.

And there continues to be a great deal of consternation regarding Elon Musk’s attempts to cut down on the size of America’s federal government. Our focus is currently drawn to the country’s international development agency, USAID, whose operations are now suspended.

Mr Musk and Mr Trump have discovered, to their chagrin, that employees of the agency were expensing subscriptions to media publications, and specifically Politico Pro, a paywalled news, legislation and research database. It’s a particularly popular tool for political staffers, who use it to keep abreast of legislative developments, but serves other uses as well.

That is not Mr Trump’s interpretation.

“LOOKS LIKE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE BEEN STOLLEN (sic) AT USAID, AND OTHER AGENCIES, MUCH OF IT GOING TO THE FAKE NEWS AS A ‘PAYOFF’ FOR CREATING GOOD STORIES ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS,” the President wrote on social media today, going on to describe it, in similarly temperate terms, as “PERHAPS THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN HISTORY!”.

So yes. Plenty going on.

Read on for the latest updates.