As infighting rises, White House says no staff shakeup looms

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's White House, one perpetually plagued by infighting among aides jockeying for the president's ear, has been sharply divided by a new rivalry, one pitting his powerful son-in-law with unfettered access to the president against the sharp-elbowed ideologue who fueled Trump's populist campaign rhetoric.

Senior adviser Jared Kushner and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, arguably the two most influential voices in the West Wing, have clashed repeatedly in recent weeks over strategy to pass health care legislation, the fallout of the bogged-down immigration bans and, most recently, whether to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

Kushner, who played a major role in the campaign, has taken on an increasingly visible role, heading an effort to overhaul the federal government and traveling to Iraq with the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.

[...] Bannon has taken the brunt of the blame for the health care fallout — he wanted to force a vote to take names of Republicans disloyal to Trump, a move Kushner opposed — and the bogged down travel bans.

While Trump initially signed off on the shock-and-awe method by which the ban was first unveiled, he has since grown angry that Bannon did not craft the executive order in such a way that it could stand up in court, according to a person familiar with the president's thinking but not permitted to discuss private conversations by name.

Trump's administration faced a major international test this week, when the president ordered a missile strike on an air field controlled by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad after his government used a chemical weapon against his own citizens.