Federal agencies reportedly have been given instructions from the White House to refuse oversight requests from Democrats in an effort to head off possible attacks on President Donald Trump.

According to Politico, White House lawyer Uttam Dhillon this spring has instructed top officials from various government agencies to disregard requests for information from Democrats.

While previous administrations in an increasingly partisan Washington have ignored or been slow to respond to requests from opposition lawmakers, the Trump administration's directive is an escalation.

News of the directive follows the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issuing an opinion last month that said "individual members of Congress, including ranking minority members, do not have the authority to conduct oversight in the absence of a specific delegation by a full house, committee or subcommittee."

"The Executive Branch's longstanding policy has been to engage in the established process for accommodating congressional requests for information only when those requests come from a committee, subcommittee or chairman authorized to conduct oversight," the May 1 letter opinion by acting Assistant Attorney General Curtis Gannon reads.

It's not clear how the opinion aligns with a federal statute that says executive branch agencies must respond if "any" seven members of a House oversight committee or "any" five members of a Senate oversight committee – with both panels specifically named in the law – sign on to a request.

Citing Republican administration sources, Politico reports the goal of the policy is an attempt to protect an administration that already feels unfairly attacked.

"You have Republicans leading the House, the Senate and the White House," a White House official said. "I don't think you'd have the Democrats responding to every minority member request if they were in the same position."

The administration's official policy is "to accommodate the requests of chairmen, regardless of their political party," an administration spokeswoman told Politico. That effectively ices out Democrats, as Republicans control both the House and Senate and thus both chambers' various committees.

The administration also responds to "all non-oversight inquiries, including the Senate's inquiries for purposes of providing advice and consent on nominees, without regard to the political party of the requester," the spokeswoman said. "Multiple agencies have, in fact, responded to minority member requests. No agencies have been directed not to respond to minority requests."

There have been some exceptions to the noncompliance policy, specifically when a Republican chairman has joined a request from a Democratic ranking member, or on matters of national security.

But a Democratic aide told Politico that almost none of the 225 oversight requests sent by Senate Democrats have been answered.