U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says whoever has been leaking information from the grand jury investigation of the Michael Brown shooting needs to “shut up.”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the 6th annual Washington Ideas Forum.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the 6th annual Washington Ideas Forum.

Holder spoke about the investigation during the Washington Ideas Forum.

“That part of the investigation is being done by the state and local authorities,” says Holder. He notes the Justice Department has a separate and independent investigation, “and we’ve not seen any leaks there. Whoever the sources of the leaks are need to shut up.”

Holder includes the release by the Ferguson Police Department of surveillance footage of Brown at a convenience store not long before he was shot among information he thinks shouldn’t have been released.

“These are all the kinds of things that I think are inappropriate. I’ve said I’m exasperated. That’s a nice way of saying I’m mad,” says Holder. “These leakers have made the determination they’re trying to somehow shape public opinion about this case, and that’s inconsistent with the way in which we conduct investigations and especially grand jury investigations, which are supposed to be secret.”

Holder also talked about the Ferguson Police Department, which he says needs to be reformed.

“I think it’s pretty clear,” says Holder, “that the need for wholesale change in that department is appropriate. Exactly what the forms of that change will be, I think we’ll wait until we complete our inquiry.”

Holder is on his way out as Attorney General, having said he will resign as soon as a successor is confirmed.