A top House Democrat has backed off a threat to hold a former White House official in contempt of Congress.

De-escalating a fight over an ignored subpoena, the White House announced late Friday that it would allow former White House personnel security director Carl Kline to do a transcribed interview for the House Oversight Committee.

Further assuaging the situation, Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wrote to Kline on Saturday, saying his panel would not move forward with contempt and accept the White House demand to have a lawyer present. However, Cummings will not accept a second demand to have the interview “limited to White House personnel security policies and practices.”

"Based on the record before us, I am confident that the Committee could move forward with contempt against you immediately, particularly since your defiance of the Committee's subpoena was so flagrant," Cummings wrote in a letter obtained by Politico. "However, I have always endeavored to be as fair as possible in the pursuit of truth, particularly with witnesses who are willing to come before the Committee."

House Democrats subpoenaed Kline after one of his former employees said that people in the administration were being given security clearance despite “disqualifying issues," but he declined to show up for a subpoenaed deposition after the White House advised him against it.

After the Democrat-led committee scheduled a vote to hold Kline in contempt, the ranking member of the committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, appealed Friday to the White House to allow Kline to appear for a transcribed interview so as to avoid an “inter-branch confrontation.”

White House counsel Pat Cipollone responded Friday with a letter stating that Kline was available for an interview on May 1 so long as the committee met their demands. It's unclear if Kline will accept Cummings' latest terms.