AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
- Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele met Ivanka Trump and formed a friendship with her years before he was hired to produce the controversial dossier containing claims of a Russian plot to ensnare her father, Donald Trump, with compromising information.
- According to a report in The Times of London, Steele met Ivanka Trump at an exclusive event at a London nightclub in 2007, and the two went on to discuss the expansion of the Trump business into China and Russia.
- The dossier compiled by Steele in 2016 contained a series of shocking and lurid claims about Trump, including that he watched prostitutes urinate on a bed in a Moscow hotel room once slept in by Barack Obama.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Ivanka Trump met with Christopher Steele, the former spy behind a now-famous 2016 dossier containing lurid allegations against President Donald Trump, at an exclusive London nightclub in 2007, The Times of London reported.
Ivanka and Steele, a former MI6 agent, met at Annabel's nightclub in Mayfair and discussed expanding the Trump business in Russia and China, the Times said.
In a report by the Justice Department's inspector general into the origins of the Russia probe released on Monday, it was revealed that Steele had contact with the Trump family nine years before the release of his controversial dossier.
The dossier alleged wide ranging plot by Russian intelligence to ensnare Trump with compromising information, including the now infamous so-called "pee tape."
The Justice Department report did not name the Trump family member Steele had been in touch with - but on Monday ABC News revealed that it to be Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter who currently serves as an adviser in her father's administration.
And on Wednesday, a source had more details on the 2007 first meting between Steele and Ivanka. The source told The Times that while still serving as an intelligence officer he was seated next to her at a dinner for about 20 people at exclusive London nightclub Annabel's.
According to The Times, speakers at the dinner included David Cameron, the future UK prime minister, and Strobe Talbott, who was at the time the US deputy secretary of state, with the event focussing on philanthropic donations to political causes.
"Mr Steele and Ms Trump became friends and discussed her finding appropriate business partners in Russia and China," according to The Times report.
ABC had earlier reported that Steele had visited Ivanka Trump in Trump Tower, and had even gifted the Trump family a "family tartan" for Christmas.
About two years after the first meeting Steele went onto to co-found private intelligence firm Orbis, that in 2016 was hired by Washington-based company GPS Intelligence to investigate then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images
Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who set-up Orbis Business Intelligence and compiled a dossier on Donald Trump, in London where he has spoken to the media for the first time.
Steele's research uncovered a series of shocking and lurid claims about Trump made by Steele's network of sources in Russia, including that Trump had watched prostitutes urinate on a bed which former president Barack Obama had slept in at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow.
Some of the dossier's claims have been shown to be false, and others have been subsequently proven true. The truth status of other claims remains unclear.
Trump launched a steady stream of attacks against Steele and the dossier since its publication by Buzzfeed in late 2016, alleging it was a string of smears published as part of a partisan plot to unseat him.
The inspector general found that the FBI's Russia probe was not launched because of Steele's dossier - undercutting an attack on the FBI by Trump and his allies - but was critical of the report.
In the inspector general's report, Steele was quoted as citing his relationship with the Trumps prior to compiling the dossier as demonstrating that he harbored no animus against them.
He told federal investigators that he was "favorably disposed" to the Trump family and it was "ridiculous" to suggest that he was working against him.