Blanche Forced Out DOJ National Security Chief After Leak-Investigation Clashes, Report Says
Attorney General Todd Blanche forced out the Justice Department’s national security chief after clashes over investigations into leaks to journalists, Bloomberg Law reported Friday, citing senior administration officials.
The departure of Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg is confirmed. The reported reasons for it, including disagreements over efforts to compel reporters to identify confidential sources, rely on unnamed people describing internal deliberations.
In his public announcement on X, Blanche said he had accepted Eisenberg’s resignation from the National Security Division and praised his service rather than describing a confrontation.
“He has served with distinction, strengthening our nation’s ability to address threats, both foreign and domestic,” Blanche wrote.
The account of the departure paints a less harmonious picture. Senior officials told the outlet that Eisenberg frustrated Blanche by slowing demands from President Donald Trump to compel grand jury testimony from reporters about sources behind coverage critical of the president.
One point of contention involved journalists who reported on security problems with Trump’s Qatari-donated aircraft. Blanche and his team pressed Eisenberg to approve subpoenas seeking the identities of people who supplied sensitive information, according to the report.
A Dispute Over How to Pursue Leaks
Eisenberg sought to ensure investigators followed Justice Department protocols requiring other fact-gathering steps before targeting reporters, the officials said. Blanche’s aides believed he was not considering alternatives that might have moved the investigations forward faster.
The distinction matters: the report describes a dispute over investigative methods and pace, not a public finding that Eisenberg broke a law or that any journalist committed a crime.
The department withdrew subpoenas for New York Times journalists in July after a federal judge rebuked its approach, the outlet reported. Other foreign-policy coverage, including reporting involving Venezuela, also prompted pressure for more aggressive leak-investigation steps.
Another person familiar with the relationship said leaks were only one of several frustrations. That person described Eisenberg’s limited experience managing a large team as a larger concern for the attorney general.
Eisenberg previously served as a deputy White House counsel during Trump’s first administration and later worked at Kirkland & Ellis. He had led the National Security Division since mid-2025, a period in which the division lost veteran lawyers and supervisors.
The report also cited an April department budget document acknowledging “unprecedented” workforce constraints. Those staffing problems provide context for the leadership change, but do not independently establish why Blanche sought Eisenberg’s exit.
Justice Department media representatives and Eisenberg did not respond to the outlet’s requests for comment. Until either provides a fuller public explanation, the resignation and the reported internal dispute should remain distinct: one is officially acknowledged, while the other is an anonymously sourced account.
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