WASHINGTON – A Democrat-led House committee voted Tuesday to subpoena a former Trump administration official to discuss how the White House granted security clearances to people despite problems with their background checks.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform voted along party lines to subpoena Carl Kline, who was the personnel security director for the first two years of the Trump presidency.

The White House "cannot stonewall and stall this committee for months and then just offer us general information about their policies, not when there are such serious allegations of a risk to national security," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

The subpoena is based on testimony to committee aides from a whistleblower, a longtime White House security adviser who said she and colleagues denied security clearances to about 25 applicants but saw those decisions overturned by higher-ups in the Trump administration.

“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," testified Tricia Newbold, a career employee who has returned to work at the White House.

The group of 25 applicants may include President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was granted a top-secret security clearance despite concerns from officials, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported in February.

Issues with some applicants includes ties to foreign influence, conflicts of interests, questionable or criminal conduct, financial problems and drug abuse, according to testimony.

More:Congress is right to probe Trump White House security clearances. Hand over the documents.

Cummings and the committee did not identify the 25 applicants recommended for rejection. But in the past they have asked the White House to provide information about clearances for Kushner, his spouse (and the president's daughter), Ivanka Trump, and national security adviser John Bolton.

The White House has rejected the document requests, citing privacy and saying Congress does not have the authority to see these documents. Officials indicated they may fight subpoenas.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the committee can speak with administration officials in general about the clearance process, but Congress is not entitled to detailed files on applicants.

"We're not going to exploit individuals and their personal information," Sanders said.

Kushner has dismissed Newbold's complaints.

Speaking with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday, Kushner said he did not want to discuss the clearance process, but "I can say over the last two years that I’ve been here, I’ve been accused of all different types of things, and all of those things have turned out to be false."

House Democrats are planning subpoenas in a number of investigations of the Trump White House.

The House Judiciary Committee will meet Wednesday to authorize a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report and the evidence his investigators gathered, setting up what could be a historic legal clash with the Justice Department.

The panel also plans to vote to authorize subpoenas for evidence from some of Trump’s former top advisers, including strategist Steve Bannon, communications director Hope Hicks, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House counsel Donald McGahn and counsel Ann Donaldson.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, accused Cummings and the Democrats of politicizing security clearances and exaggerating the problems.

"For instance," he said, "the 25 examples of overruled recommendations by Ms. Newbold heralded by the Democrats include nonpolitical officials such as a GSA custodian."

Cummings said the evidence suggests the administration has been careless with security clearances and access to the nation's secrets.

Newbold's testimony reflected "the grave security risks she has been witnessing firsthand over the past two years," Cummings said.

Contributing: Bart Jansen