Eric Holder: Media Probe Got 'A Little Out Of Whack'

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he was "not comfortable" approving a search warrant affidavit for a Fox News journalist's emails that characterized him as a criminal conspirator and would change the process.

Holder, in an interview filmed Wednesday and aired on NBC Nightly News, said the Justice Department needs to balance national security with press freedom, and conceded investigators may have gone too far in the past. DOJ subpoenaed phone records for phone lines assigned to Associated Press journalists, but Holder had recused himself from that leak investigation and didn't personally sign off on the subpoena.

"I'm a little concerned that things have gotten a little out of whack," Holder told NBC's Pete Williams. "I think we can do a better job than we have. We can reform those regulations, reform those guidelines to better reflect that balance."

Holder seemed to express regret for approving the search warrant affidavit that treated Fox News reporter James Rosen as a co-conspirator in a leak.

"I don't like that, because it means me as official who has great respect for the press, is in essence saying a reporter doing his or her job and doing that important job is somehow branded a criminal," Holder said. "I'm just not comfortable with that, we're going to change that."

Holder said he has "no intention" of resigning now.

"There are some things that I want to do, some things I want to get done that I have discussed with the president," Holder said. "And once I have finished that, I'll sit down with him and we'll determine when it's time to make a transition to a new attorney general."

This article has been updated to include Holder's comment on whether he'll resign.