The US House judiciary committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, said on Thursday that the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, will testify on Friday after he threatened to not show up following the panel’s warning that it could subpoena him.

The committee’s Democrats want to question Whitaker about his oversight of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and his communications with the White House related to the inquiry and the firing of the former attorney general Jeff Sessions.