Blanche Confirmation Hearing, US and Strait of Hormuz, ICE Vehicle Stops
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 15 July 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
President Trump has talked about the US fully controlling the Strait of Hormuz. But for the US military that means much more than imposing yet another blockade on the key waterway.
The third fatal ICE shooting in a week is now prompting a policy shift at the agency. According to Senator Angus King, ICE will now suspend most vehicle stops during enforcement operations.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Anna Yukhananov, Alina Hartounian, Mohamad ElBardicy, Alice Woelfle, and Ziad Buchh.
It was produced by Paige Waterhouse and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.
(0:00) Introduction
(1:49) Blanche confirmation hearing
(5:38) US and the Strait of Hormuz
(9:32) ICE Vehicle stops
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces a Senate confirmation hearing today. |
| 0:06.0 | Democrats accuse him of weaponizing the Justice Department for President Trump. |
| 0:10.0 | A few Republicans have concerns about his track record. |
| 0:13.0 | Does Blanche have the numbers? |
| 0:15.0 | I mean Martinez, that's Leila Fadl, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:19.0 | A deal between the U.S. and Iran was supposed to mean that the Strait of Hormuz is open for business. |
| 0:25.3 | Now, President Trump has ordered a blockade. |
| 0:27.5 | He says the military will take control the waterway, but is that possible without boots on the ground? |
| 0:32.5 | And ICE is putting a temporary pause on most traffic stops after agents shot and killed two people in a week. |
| 0:40.2 | Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:48.9 | Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be on Capitol Hill today for his confirmation hearing to lead to Justice |
| 0:54.7 | Department on a permanent basis. It is a high-stakes moment for Blanche, given that he has a narrow |
| 1:00.6 | path to confirmation in the Senate, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority. |
| 1:06.1 | NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering this. Ryan should be a spicy one today. Yeah, I expect this to be a tense hearing today, and that, is covering this. Ryan, should be a spicy one today. |
| 1:11.6 | Yeah, I expect this to be a tense hearing today, and that's because in this second Trump |
| 1:15.3 | administration, the Justice Department has been in turmoil. It has been at the center of a number |
| 1:20.2 | of political firestorms, and Blanche himself has been in the thick of all of it. He is seen as a |
| 1:25.2 | Trump loyalist. He previously served as Trump's personal attorney. |
| 1:28.8 | And then when Trump returned to office, he named Blanche to be the number two official at the |
| 1:32.3 | Justice Department. Blanche then became acting attorney general in April after Trump pushed |
| 1:37.1 | out his first attorney general, Pam Bondi. Trump has liked what he's seen from Blanche in the |
| 1:41.5 | past couple months. He nominated him for the job full |
... |
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