The Justice Department says it will not permit two FBI officials to appear privately before a congressional committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had asked in July to speak with the officials, Jim Rybicki and Carl Ghattas. It narrowed its scope after the Justice Department declined to make them available.

In a letter this week obtained by The Associated Press, the Justice Department said it would still not make the officials available for interviews in order to “protect the integrity” of the investigation being done by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the overlapping areas of the committee’s investigation and Mueller’s probe have not been sorted out yet.

(AP)