Up First from NPR - Blanche Confirmation Hearing, Iran War And Midterm Politics, Clayton ODNI Hearing

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Most senators didn't question Todd Blanche's qualifications to lead the Justice Department at his confirmation hearing, they questioned whether the man who spent years as President Trump's personal lawyer would serve the president or the country. President Trump notified Congress that the U.S. is back at war with Iran, starting a new 60-day clock for military action, though the clock that may matter most is the midterms as gas prices ripple through the economy. And Trump's pick for intelligence chief, Jay Clayton, wouldn't acknowledge the results of the 2020 election at his hearing, leaving Democrats to ask why a man with no intelligence experience won't give a straight answer.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Anna Yukhananov, Kelsey Snell, Andrew Sussman, Alice Woelfle, and Mohamad ElBardicy.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.(0:00) Introduction(02:35) Blanche Confirmation Hearing(06:30) Iran War And Midterm Politics(10:24) Clayton ODNI Hearing See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

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And thank you. It wasn't Todd Blinch's qualifications that were front and center at his confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department. The focus was his loyalty. Are you in President Trump, France? I'm his lawyer. Was his lawyer. I'm Leila Faudsil with A. Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News. President Trump notified Congress that the U.S. is back at war with Iran.

A majority of Americans oppose the war, but Trump's base is behind him. Will anything make that change? And the president's pick for intelligence chief wouldn't acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election. I'm not going to get into that with you. But you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. That's from Jay Clayton's confirmation hearing. Why so much time spent on that question? Stay with us.

We've got the news you need to start your day. The Senate Judiciary Committee grilled President Trump's nominee to lead the Justice Department on Wednesday. But it wasn't Todd Blanche's qualifications for the job that were the focus. Instead, the panel honed in on his close ties to the president and whether he would serve Trump or the American people. NPR's Kerry Johnson has been following the hearing. Care, I mean, no shortage of controversy at the DOJ over the past year and a half. And Todd Blanche has really been at the center of it. How did that come up in the hearing?

Yeah, Todd Blanche has been the Deputy Attorney General the second in command at the Justice Department since last year. He assumed the top job in April after President Trump fired Attorney General Pambandi. Getting that promotion on a permanent basis requires Senate confirmation, so lawmakers got a chance to ask Blanche about a lot of problems. He got questions about prosecutions against the president's political foes, about how DOJ botched the release of files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And about a nearly $2 billion slush fund, the administration tried to set up to pay alleged victims of weaponization. That includes people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. How did Todd Blanche respond? Well, Todd Blanche basically said he's a creature of the Justice Department.

He's worked there as an intern, a paralegal, and a prosecutor. And he told them, serving in the Justice Department represents an American dream. But Todd Blanche has really been dogged by questions about his relationship with President Trump. Blanche, of course, worked as Trump's personal lawyer for a couple years. He defended Trump in cases that involve election interference, classified documents, and Democrats say he's still serving Donald Trump instead of the Constitution. Then, under questioning, Blanche seemed to make a slip of the tongue. Here he is being questioned by Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. Are you in President Trump, France? I'm his lawyer. Was his lawyer. And now I'm the deputy attorney. general. Blanche went on to say he's not a yes man and that his time defending Trump should not define his long career. So Kerry, Democrats on the panel are trying to make the case against Blanche. How do they

try to do that? Some of these senators actually worked inside the Justice Department earlier in their careers, so these issues are personal to them in a way. Sheldon White House from Rhode Island used to be a U.S. attorney. White House talked about how DOJ has lost stature with judges and juries over the past year. Between judges appointed by every president harshly criticizing the department's work in your tenure, grand juries, rejecting indictments, judicial findings of outright misconduct, this seems to be the most troubled Department of Justice in history. Todd Blanche says on his watch, DOJ has done a lot to prosecute violent crime and keep Americans safe. So here's a wrinkle now because after the death of Senator Lindsey Graham over the weekend, the Judiciary Committee is very closely divided now.

So how do Blanche's prospects look? That's true. There's one more day of hearings today that are going to feature witnesses arguing for and against Blanche's nomination. But safe to say, most of the Republicans on the panel seemed inclined to support him. Senator John Cornyn of Texas is going to be critical for now. Cornyn says he's undecided. Cornyn is worried about DOJ trying to resurrect that slush fund for January 6 rioters, which would use taxpayer dollars.

And he's worried about the broad grant of immunity. the DOJ gave Trump and two of his sons for any past tax audits. This week, a judge in Florida blasted the Justice Department's approach there. The judge wrote DOJ officials abdicated responsibility to zealously defend the interests of the U.S. and a sham deal that benefited Trump. That's NPR's Kerry. Johnson, Carrie. Thank you. Thank you. President Trump sent Congress a formal notification of this week that the U.S. is once again at war with Iran.

The administration argues this gives them a new 60-day clock to use military action without congressional approval. But the greater concern for the president and his inner circle may not be approval from Congress, but from voters, particularly as the midterms get closer and closer. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez joins us now. Franco, so a restarting of full-scale fighting, there's got to be some political implications here. I mean, I think it kind of depends on what actually happens next. I mean, the president would rather not be dealing with all this. I mean, he's made that clear as he's aggressively pushed for the ceasefire. Now, I will say, A, if these new strikes actually kind of break the regime, if the straight-of-hor moves actually opens and gas prices drop down, then actually maybe the political implications could be kind of good for the president. But if fighting continues, you know, next week and beyond that, and energy prices continue. to rise, then obviously that would not be good for the president or for Republicans, for that matter. And just one other factor is whether voters actually feel the U.S. won or lost the war or is winning or losing. I mean, it's certainly not going to sit well with Americans if they feel the president

started this war and then the U.S. loss. So the success of this latest offensive could also be very important from that political perspective as well. Yeah. And the thing on that is that foreign policy really rarely dominates midterm elections. I mean, could this year be an exception? I mean, I'd say yes and no. I mean, yes, in that this is a big foreign policy challenge, but no, or really only because it's helping drive such major domestic challenges. I mean, voters are not necessarily going to point to the war for how they voted. I was talking with John McHenry, a veteran pollster with North Star Opinion Research. You know, he says exit polls will not show the war, but they'll more likely show voters citing higher energy prices and the economy,

which are driven by the war. Ultimately, the gas prices may be the determining factor on how this plays out politically, because gas prices have a ripple effect on everything. Prices, you know, at every retail shop and at the grocery store will go up because, you know, a gallon of milk doesn't walk to the grocery store. It gets driven there by a truck. So the gas price is sort of the crux of the whole matter. Now, that could change. of course, if this continues to grow, and if, for example, Trump commits ground troops to the conflict, now he's been reluctant to do that, but he has threatened the possibility. So, Franco, is this what we're doing now, sporadic strikes and then just continued anxiety about the war all the

time? I mean, I'll say that Americans, though, have been expecting that? I mean, there was a new Reuters poll that came out that said four out of five Americans expect the war to drag on indefinitely. I mean, less than 20% A, expect the war to end in a matter of weeks. The thing is, though, President Trump has said for months that the war is almost over, obviously not because Iran continues to stop traffic going through the straits. So what has this done to Trump's overall support? Well, I'd say a majority of Americans oppose the war, but I'll just add that if you focus on Republicans, they largely continue to remain behind Trump.

I mean, it's not necessarily that they're ignoring the evidence that you outline, but they trust Trump's framing. And McHenry, the Republican pollster, tells me he doesn't expect that to change, no matter the reporting, no matter the facts on the ground, that Trump's core supporters trust how the president interprets those facts to them. And he says that they're likely to trust a president until they can't anymore. That's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Thanks a lot. Thank you, A.

A major line of questioning for President Trump's pick to lead the intelligence community in 2026 was the election results from 2020. Jay Clayton is the nominee for Director of National Intelligence. He faced senators on Wednesday in a confirmation hearing. The question centered on Trump's repeated false claims that there was election fraud in 2020. For more, we're joined by NPR's Greg Maury. Good morning, Greg. Hi, Leila. Okay, so we've heard President Trump assert repeatedly and without evidence that the 2020 election was rigged. So when Clayton was asked about this, what did he say? Yeah, the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee repeatedly asked Clayton straight up,

who won the 2020 election. Clayton said he wasn't an election denier and that Joe Biden was certified as president, but he didn't say outright that Biden won. And so after several go-rounds with senators along these lines, the tone escalated as Georgia Democrat John Ossoff kept pressing Clayton. Who won the 2020 election? Like I said, I'm not going to get into that with you. But you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Is anything that I just said, not honest or forthright? Yes, you're not being honest or forthright. Who won the 2020 election? So I know the president is expected to again talk about this election in his speech tonight, an election he lost what refuses to acknowledge he lost. But it's it's 2026. So why the focus on

this in the panel? Could the director of national intelligence end up being part of any investigation into the 2020 election? Yeah, the short answer is yes. Now, Clayton was asked about Trump's speech that he's going to deliver tonight, and Clayton said he didn't know anything about it because he hasn't been confirmed yet, but the director oversees the collective effort of the intelligence community, all 18 agencies, those with a domestic focus like the FBI, those with a foreign focus like the CIA. So yes, this office could be involved. And Layla, an important reminder, the 2020 election has been investigated, repeatedly. No evidence has emerged of any serious irregularities in the casting or counting of votes. And this includes a 2021 report by this very office, the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

It said Russia and Iran tried to influence American voters but did not penetrate the actual voting process and that China also considered an influence operation but ultimately decided against it. What should we know about Jay Clayton's background? Yeah, he's a lawyer. He's held a couple of high-powered government jobs. He's currently the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and this handles high-profile legal cases in the Justice Department. And he previously led the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said he's worked with Clayton in earlier jobs and found him highly professional. But Warner stressed that the law stipulates this job must be filled by someone with extensive experience in the intelligence. world. So is Clayton qualified for this job? Well, he's never held a job in the intelligence community. Now, he says he's worked extensively with intelligence agencies. For example, his current office is in charge of prosecuting the former leader of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro. So Clayton works with the FBI and others. Now, a couple quick notes, Republicans control the intelligence

committee and can send Clayton's nomination to the full Senate without any Democratic support, and a committee vote is expected next week. And a reminder, this position opened up after the recent resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, who often seemed to be just out of step with President Trump. NPR's Greg Miree. Thank you, Greg. Sure thing, Leila. And that's a first for Thursday, July 16th. And I'm Leila Faudil. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Anna Yucanav, Kelsey Snell, Andrew Sussman, Alice Wolfley, and Mohameda D.C. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Highness, and our technical director is Carly Strange. And our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.