Story highlights Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will testify to House and Senate appropriations panels Tuesday

It is unclear whether the upcoming intelligence committee hearing will be open or closed

(CNN) Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Saturday that he plans to testify before the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear if he would testify in public or private.

The move is a prominent switch from his previous plans to testify publicly on the Justice Department's budget and puts him more directly in the firing line over questions about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States and a federal investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.

Sessions had been scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House and Senate subcommittees that oversee his department's budget, but Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will go before them instead, he said Saturday in letters to the chairmen of those subcommittees.

"Some members have publicly stated their intention to focus their questions on issues related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, from which I have recused, and for which the deputy attorney general appointed a special counsel, " Sessions wrote.

"The Senate intelligence committee is the most appropriate forum for such matters, as it has been conducting an investigation and has access to relevant, classified information," he added.

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