A White House whistleblower says the Trump administration overruled security experts to give questionable security clearances to more than two dozen people.

Key points: A White House security advisor says Mr Trump's personnel security director approved clearances against advice

A White House security advisor says Mr Trump's personnel security director approved clearances against advice It is believed two of the clearances in question were for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

It is believed two of the clearances in question were for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump A Republican on the Oversight Committee says a letter quoting the whistleblower is a "partisan attack"

Tricia Newbold, a White House security adviser, told Democrats in Congress that clearances were initially denied to dozens of administration officials.

That was due to concerns over possible foreign influence, conflicts of interest, questionable or criminal conduct, financial problems or drug abuse.

She said President Donald Trump's former White House personnel security director, Carl Kline, personally overruled the career officials' judgements in the cases of two senior officials.

She said she ignored pressure from Mr Kline over another case and the third official ultimately left the White House.

Two sources familiar with the information obtained by the House of Representatives Oversight Committee said two of those three senior officials were Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

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Ms Newbold's allegations were laid out in a letter written by Elijah Cummings, chairman of the committee, and sent to the White House on Monday.

"I would not be doing a service to myself, my country, or my children if I sat back knowing that the issues that we have could impact national security," the letter quoted Ms Newbold as telling his committee.

"I feel that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office."

Ms Newbold said she had raised her concerns up the chain of command in the White House to no avail.

Instead, she said, the White House retaliated.

They suspended her in January for two weeks without pay for not following a new policy requiring that documents be scanned as separate PDF files rather than one single PDF file.

Clearances for Trump's daughter questioned

Mr Cummings said he planned to subpoena Mr Kline and warned that more subpoenas would be issued if the White House did not provide requested documents.

In his letter to the White House, Mr Cummings referred to three unnamed "senior White House officials" whose security clearance cases were addressed in some detail by Ms Newbold.

Ms Trump is a senior advisor to the White House. ( Reuters: Mike Theiler )

Two sources familiar with the information obtained by the Oversight Committee said two of those three senior officials were Ms Trump and her husband Mr Kushner.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abbe Lowell, an attorney who represents Mr Kushner and Ms Trump, had no comment.

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Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House committee, issued a statement calling the letter a "partisan attack" that was "an excuse to go fishing through the personal files of dedicated public servants".

"The process by which this matter has so far progressed has been anything but fair," he said.

"The interview of Ms Newbold was conducted on a Saturday morning at 8:30am and Republicans on the committee were not informed of the interview's topic or witness until 3:30pm the day before, leaving little to no time to prepare."

Mr Cummings said Ms Newbold, a manager in the White House personnel security office, said she was targeted for retaliation after declining to approve applications based on national security protocols.

"I'm terrified of going back," she is quoted as saying in the letter, which Mr Cummings sent to White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

"I know that this will not be perceived in favour of my intentions, which is to bring back the integrity of the office."

Concerns about 'foreign influence'

Mr Cummings's memo said career officials, including Ms Newbold, initially rejected the application from "Senior White House official 1" after a background investigation revealed "significant disqualifying factors," including "foreign influence" and "personal conduct".

The memo said Mr Kline had overruled the officials' judgements and said the activities that concerned security officials "occurred prior to federal service".

It also said Ms Newbold told congressional investigators that a second person, referred to as "senior White House Official 2", was the subject of a 14-page memo laying out "multiple disqualifiers" including foreign influence and outside activities.

A lawyer for Mr Kushner and Ms Trump refused to comment on the claims. ( AP: Susan Walsh )

Mr Kline also approved a clearance for that unnamed official.

Ms Newbold told congressional investigators that in a third case she was pressured by Mr Kline to reverse a recommendation that the clearance application be rejected.

Ms Newbold refused, and the third official ultimately left the White House, the Democrats' memo said.

ABC/Wires