diff --git a/changelog.d/8401.misc b/changelog.d/8401.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..27fd7ab129d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/8401.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+A pair of tiny cleanups in the federation request code.
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation.py b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
index 9f773aefa7fa..5bcfb231b2cb 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ async def on_receive_pdu(self, origin, pdu, sent_to_us_directly=False) -> None:
                             raise Exception(
                                 "Error fetching missing prev_events for %s: %s"
                                 % (event_id, e)
-                            )
+                            ) from e
 
                         # Update the set of things we've seen after trying to
                         # fetch the missing stuff
diff --git a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
index 3c86cbc546db..b02c74ab2d4b 100644
--- a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
+++ b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
@@ -473,8 +473,6 @@ async def _send_request(
                             )
 
                             response = await request_deferred
-                    except TimeoutError as e:
-                        raise RequestSendFailed(e, can_retry=True) from e
                     except DNSLookupError as e:
                         raise RequestSendFailed(e, can_retry=retry_on_dns_fail) from e
                     except Exception as e: