More than two dozen people were granted security clearances or access to national security secrets by President Donald Trump's White House – despite recommendations from officials that they be denied, a whistleblower told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
That whistleblower, longtime White House security specialist Tricia Newbold, spoke with Republicans and Democrats on the committee in a private interview on March 23, according to Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md.
According to Cummings, the whistleblower said during the March interview that the list of approximately 25 individuals whose denials were overruled "had a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct."
"She has come forward at great personal risk to warn Congress — and the nation — about the grave security risks she has been witnessing first-hand over the past two years," Cummings said in a letter sent Monday to White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Cummings told Cipollone that his committee plans to begin authorizing subpoenas beginning at a business meeting Tuesday.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Cummings' letters.
Newbold, who has worked in the Executive Office of the President for 18 years, received a two-week suspension without pay in January for defying her supervisor, Carl Kline, NBC News reported at the time. That action came just days after reports surfaced that Kline had approved a top secret clearance for Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, over the objections of security officials.
Cummings' first subpoena will be aimed at getting a deposition for Kline, Cummings told Cipollone. Kline, who now works at the Defense Department, has not replied to multiple requests for an interview from the committee, Cummings claimed.
Newbold "agreed to identify herself publicly at this time because she strongly believes that Congress must intervene immediately to safeguard our national security," Cummings wrote.
He quotes Newbold as saying: "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."
"I feel that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office," she added, according to Cummings.
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