The Senate Appropriations Committee had announced Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ appearance last week. | Getty Sessions' Senate testimony canceled this week

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will no longer testify before Congress this week on funding for the Justice Department, aides said Monday — hearings that would likely have been overtaken by questions about the federal probe into potential collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said the canceled testimonies, which had been planned for Wednesday in the House and Thursday in the Senate, was due to a scheduling conflict. The Senate Appropriations Committee had announced Sessions’ appearance last week, although the testimony was not included in the weekly guidance from the Justice Department.


The Senate hearing was rescheduled for June 13, according to the committee.

Other Cabinet officials are traveling to Capitol Hill this week to discuss details of President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal, which will be formally unveiled on Tuesday. But with Sessions, Democrats are sure to raise questions about the controversy swirling around the Trump White House and the Russia investigation, as well as Trump’s surprise firing of former FBI Director James Comey earlier this month.

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For instance, Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Patrick Leahy of Vermont have written letters to DOJ, asking for more information on reported requests from Comey for more resources for the Russia probe shortly before he was dismissed. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told lawmakers in closed-door briefings last week that he is not aware of any requests from Comey for more resources for the Russia investigation.