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Good morning, everyone. I'm Chief Playbook correspondent Eugene Daniels. It is Wednesday, February 5th. Here is what's driving the day.

In a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday evening, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S.

will, and I quote, take over the Gaza Strip, unquote.

We'll own it.

The president went on vowing to clear out the destruction and pursue economic development,

housing, and jobs.

Pressed for specifics, he did not rule out sending U.S. troops to take over Gaza,

will do what's necessary, he said.

It amounts to a massive policy shift for a president whose America-first foreign policy

has vocally opposed using U.S. money and troops to nation-build abroad instead of using those

resources at home. The remarks came at the end of a day when Trump continued to flex his

dominance over both the Republican Party and Washington, D.C. more broadly.

Yesterday, two of his most controversial high-profile nominees got a step closer to the cabinet

as wavering Republican senators fell in line. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advanced out of the

Finance Committee on a 14 to 13 party-line vote, significantly boosting his odds of confirmation

as HHS Secretary. Meanwhile, the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Tulsi Gabbas nomination for

Director of National Intelligence in another party line vote, nine to eight. Both nominations now headed

to the Senate floor for a final test of Republican approval. Today, Trump looks to implement a

sweeping change to America's schools as he signs an

executive order that is aimed at blocking trans girls and women from participating in female

sports at any school or university that receives federal funding. Here to chat with me now is my

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