Secretary of State Rex Tillerson joined Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday morning for the travel announcement.

The briefing, originally set for 2 p.m., is off “due to today's event,” the statement said.

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The postponement was another sign of how the Trump White House is changing the way the State Department operates, and often reducing its role.

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The White House had put the State Department briefings on hiatus in January, with little explanation beyond saying the new administration needed time to get organized.

The events, widely watched around the world, were the main avenue through which administrations of both parties described and defended U.S. foreign policy.

The announcement last week that briefings would resume also cemented the department's new, circumscribed role. The department now plans two on-camera question-and-answer sessions per week and two off-camera sessions. The sessions formerly called the “daily press briefings” have been a staple at the State Department for decades.

The State Department announcement did not spell it out, but the politically driven reason for Monday's schedule change was clear. In the past, the State Department briefing was only rarely affected by White House events. The White House press briefing may be canceled because of the president's speaking appearances or other events, but the State Department schedule was usually unaffected.

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Trump has said he plans to cut foreign aid and development programs administered by the State Department, and is reportedly considering reducing the department's budget by about a third.

Tillerson has held no news conferences and given no public speeches since his first day on the job in early February. He has taken only two brief foreign trips, and left the usual complement of about a dozen reporters and photographers behind each time.