"I would expect that — to the extent that there is a matter of this magnitude — that would be decided at the highest levels of the Justice Department," Holder told CBS' Face The Nation.
Holder is due to retire soon; President Obama has nominated New York-based U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch to be the new attorney general, but it's not known when the Senate might vote on her confirmation.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, are recommending that Petraeus, also a former CIA director, face criminal charges for passing classified information to his former mistress, Paula Broadwell.
Holder, who is in Paris for security meetings with French officials in the wake of last week's attack, did a round of Sunday show interviews. He declined to discuss the Petraeus case in detail, including the timing of any decision to move forward or not.
"The determination in any case is made at the time that all of the evidence has been acquired, all of the evidence has been reviewed, when it has been gone over with people who are the subjects of the investigation and with their lawyers," Holder told CBS. "And so at the appropriate time, the proper people within the Justice Department will make determinations."
From USA TODAY:
"Petraeus, who resigned as CIA director after news of his affair broke in 2012, has been under investigation since then for passing secret information to Broadwell. She is the author of a biography of Petraeus, titled All In. ...
"Since his resignation, Petraeus has been interviewed by FBI agents at his home in the Washington suburb of Arlington. Part of the investigation centered on whether Petraeus had given Broadwell sensitive information and whether those documents were stored in an unauthorized place."
