WASHINGTON, D.C.: Bowing to the threat of a contempt of Congress vote against them, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify in a House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein at the end of this month.

They finalized an agreement with House Republicans this week.

Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Oversight Committee on February 26, and Bill Clinton will appear on February 27. It will mark the first time that lawmakers have compelled a former president to testify.

The arrangement came after months of talks between Republicans and the Clintons. GOP lawmakers wanted Bill and Hillary Clinton to play a key role in a House committee investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019. Republicans said that questioning the Clintons would help make the investigation more transparent to the public.

Representative James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said lawmakers wanted to question the Clintons to better understand Epstein's circle of powerful friends and to bring accountability for the public and for victims.

For several months, the Clintons refused to comply with subpoenas ordering them to testify. But House Republicans, with a few Democrats' help, moved forward with criminal contempt-of-Congress charges. If convicted, the Clintons could have faced hefty fines or even prison time.

Later, House Speaker Mike Johnson said any immediate move to hold them in contempt was "on pause."

Even after the Clintons agreed to cooperate, discussions between Republican lawmakers and the Clintons' lawyers were tense and filled with mistrust. Both sides argued about how the questioning would happen. In the end, they agreed that the interviews would be private, recorded on video, and written down.

Republicans are expected to question the Clintons strongly, seeing this as a chance to challenge long-time political opponents while they are under oath. Comer said the main aim was to find out how Epstein was able to connect with so many rich and influential people.

He also said the Clintons wanted public hearings but insisted that the testimony should be held in private first, with the transcripts released later. He added that a public hearing could happen afterward if needed.

Bill Clinton, like several other well-known figures, including President Donald Trump, had known Epstein in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, neither Trump nor Clinton has been credibly accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein. Both Clintons have said they did not know Epstein was abusing underage girls until prosecutors charged him.

At first, the Clintons said the subpoenas were invalid and offered sworn written statements instead of appearing in person. But as contempt charges moved forward, they decided to testify. Some Democrats supported the charges, showing a shift toward greater transparency.

With little political support to stop the action, the Clintons had few options but to comply, creating what some lawmakers called a new example for former presidents to follow congressional subpoenas.