Blanche Ousts National Security Head After Media Leaks Clash (1)

Key Points:

• Attorney General Todd Blanche forced Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg to resign after clashes over the pace and approach to White House-directed investigations into media leaks, with Blanche pushing for more aggressive subpoenas of reporters.
• Eisenberg resisted President Trump’s demands to compel grand jury testimony from journalists, aiming to follow DOJ protocols that require other investigative steps before targeting reporters, frustrating DOJ leadership.
• Blanche and his team viewed Eisenberg, a Yale Law graduate and DOJ institutionalist, as lacking experience managing a large team and not sufficiently loyal to Trump, leading to broader dissatisfaction beyond leak investigations.
• The National Security Division, led by Eisenberg since mid-2025, faced significant attrition and diminished influence, with many attorneys leaving partly due to frustrations over workload, including extensive reviews of Jeffrey Epstein documents.
• Despite internal conflicts, Blanche publicly praised Eisenberg upon his resignation for strengthening national security efforts, though behind the scenes Eisenberg was disparaged and nicknamed “Eisenblock” by former deputies.