Ivanka Trump’s relationship with British spy revealed in new report strikes massive blow to president's claims

The news that Christopher Steele knew Ivanka Trump personally, and had discussed working together on foreign business projects, seriously undercuts the claims of the US president and his supporters that the former MI6 officer was motivated by malice when compiling his explosive Russiagate dossier.

There have been rumours of past links between Steele and the Trump camp for months. Now extraordinary details have emerged in a report looking at what prompted investigations into the Kremlin’s interference in the US presidential election.

The report had been ordered by Attorney General William Barr with the express aim of proving probes into such interference were driven by politically partisan bias.

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The 476-page document by the inspector general of the Justice Department, Michael Horowitz, dismissed the allegations of bias against the FBI, stating “no political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open” the investigations.

It absolved Steele of “bad faith” in putting together his dossier but also held that there had been a “lack of judgment” on his part in putting forward some of his conclusions.

Shape Created with Sketch. World news in pictures Show all 50 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. World news in pictures 1/50 10 December 2019 Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives to participate in the event "Unite behind the science" within the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid AFP via Getty 2/50 9 December 2019 White Island (Whakaari) volcano, as it erupts, in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. According to police, at least five people have died in the volcanic erruption EPA/Michael Schade 3/50 8 December 2019 People gather amidst the ruins of a building, destroyed during reported Syrian regime and Russian air strikes the previous day in the town of Balyun. The reported air raids killed 19 civilians, eight of them children, in the country's last major opposition bastion AFP via Getty 4/50 7December 2019 A French CGT unionist holds up the union's flag as he demonstrates against unemployment amidst smoke bombs in Nantes. 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Hong Kong is in its sixth month of mass protests, which were originally triggered by a now withdrawn extradition bill, and have since turned into a wider pro-democracy movement EPA 14/50 27 November 2019 Rescuers with a dog search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Durres, western Albania AP 15/50 26 November 2019 A shepherd leads a flock of sheep on a pontoon bridge in Allahabad AFP via Getty 16/50 25 November 2019 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a female company belonging to 5492 troops KCNA via Reuters 17/50 24 November 2019 A protester jumps between burning tires during ongoing anti-government protests in Basra, Iraq Reuters 18/50 23 November 2019 Fans dressed as Star Wars characters during day three of the first Test between Australia and Pakistan at The Gabba in Australia Getty 19/50 22 November 2019 Pope Francis speaks with religious leaders during a meeting at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand Reuters 20/50 21 November 2019 A girl injured in last night's attack by the Syrian regime on a camp for displaced people near the Turkish border in Idlib, Syria is held up to the camera AFP/Getty 21/50 20 November 2019 Indian paramilitary soldiers detain a Congress party supporter during a protest against the withdrawal of Special Protection Group (SPG) cover to party president Sonia Gandhi, her children and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delh. The move to lift off the SPG security, an elite force that protects prime ministers and their immediate families, led to sharp reactions from the Congress, which accused the government of personal vendetta AP 22/50 19 November 2019 An image taken from a plane window shows Sydney shrouded in smoke from nearby bush fires AAP Imagevia Reuters 23/50 18 November 2019 Protesters run for cover after riot police fired tear gas towards the bridge they were climbing down to the road below, to escape from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dozens escaped the besieged campus by lowering themselves on a rope from a footbridge to a highway. Once on the road they were seen being picked up by waiting motorcyclists AFP via Getty 24/50 17 November 2019 Anti-government protesters draped in Iraqi national flags walk into clouds of smoke from burning tires during a demonstration in the southern city of Basra, Iraq AFP via Getty 25/50 16 November 2019 A protester wearing a yellow jacket waves a French flag in a fountain during a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the "yellow vests" movement in Nice, France Reuters 26/50 15 November 2019 A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces amid clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum AFP via Getty 27/50 14 November 2019 A patient suffering from dengue fever receives medical treatment at an isolation ward at a hospital in Larkana, Pakistan. According to local reports, 26 deaths have been reported out of a total of 10,013 confirmed cases of dengue infection. Dengue fever is reportedly caused by a specific type of mosquito, the Aedes mosquito, that bites only during daytime, especially during sunrise and sunset. EPA 28/50 13 November 2019 An anti-government protester flashes the V-sign for victory in front of burning tyres used to block a main road at the entrance of Tripoli. The previous night, street protests erupted across Lebanon after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government, cutting off several major roads. In his televised address, Aoun proposed a government that includes both technocrats and politicians AFP via Getty 29/50 12 November 2019 An Israeli missile launching from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells. They were sent up to intercept rockets launched from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip. Israel's military killed a commander for Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a strike on his home, prompting retaliatory rocket fire and fears of a severe escalation in violence AFP/Getty 30/50 11 November 2019 A species of deer thought to be extinct, the chevrotain, has been spotted for the first time in 30 years in the wilds of Vietnam. The deer is around the size of a domestic cat SIE/GWC/Leibniz-IZW/NCNP /SWNS.C 31/50 10 November 2019 The royal motorcade of Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, under tight security, passes through a street in Tokyo. Thousands of people gathered for the rare open-top car parade featuring the newly enthroned Emperor Kyodo News via AP 32/50 9 November 2019 People knock over a mock-up of the former Berlin Wall during a performance prior to the German first division Bundesliga football match Hertha BSC Berlin v RB Leipzig on the 30 anniversary of the fall off the wall AFP/Getty 33/50 8 November 2019 Flames from an out of control bushfire from a nearby residential area in Harrington, northeast of Sydney. Australian firefighters warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they struggled to contain dozens of out-of-control bushfires across the east of the country Kelly-ann Oosterbeek/AFP/Getty 34/50 7 November 2019 Demonstrators shine lasers during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, the capital Reuters 35/50 6 November 2019 Activists from India's main opposition Congress party shout slogans as they are stopped by police during a protest against what the activists say is economic slowdown in the country, in Guwahati, India Reuters 36/50 5 November 2019 Smoke rises from a fire in downtown Lagos, Nigeria. Firefighters worked hard to try and extinguish a fire at the Balogun market. Thick black smoke and flames shot from the five-story buildings as fire trucks attempted to get access AP 37/50 4 November 2019 Women run down a sand dune as they take part in the desert trek "Rose Trip Maroc" in the erg Chebbi near Merzouga. It is a female-oriented trek where teams of three must travel through the southern Moroccan Sahara desert with a compass, a map and a topographical reporter AFP via Getty 38/50 3 November 2019 Riot police descend an escalator inside the City Plaza mall in Hong Kong after a bloody knife fight wounded six people there. A local pro-democracy politician had his ear bitten off during another chaotic day of political unrest in the city AFP via Getty 39/50 2 November 2019 People participate in the celebration of the 'muerteadas de Jalapa del Valle', as part of the Day of the Dead in Mexico EPA 40/50 1 November 2019 Firefighters work to control flames from a backfire during the Maria fire in Santa Paula, California AFP via Getty 41/50 31 October 2019 Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, over the Vestrahorn mountain in the east of Iceland PA 42/50 30 October 2019 A model presents a creation at the show Heaven Gaia by Xiong Ying during the China Fashion Week in Beijing. The fashion event runs from 25 October to 2 November EPA 43/50 29 October 2019 Hindu devotees collect rice as offerings on 'Annakut' or 'Govardhan Puja' festival at the Madan Mohan temple in Kolkata. People in large numbers gather at the temple to collect the rice offerings in the belief that it will keep them in good health and they'll never face poverty or scarcity of food AFP via Getty 44/50 28 October 2019 Authorities investigate after a Port Authority bus was caught in a sinkhole in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania AP 45/50 27 October 2019 South Africa players celebrate after beating Wales in their Rugby World Cup semi-final match. The Springboks will face England in next Saturday's final following fly-half Handre Pollard's match-winning penalty four minutes from time. The match ended 19-16 Reuters 46/50 26 October 2019 Participants from Thailand pose in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall as they take part in the annual gay pride parade in Taipei. Some two hundred thousand revellers marched through Taipei in a riot of rainbow colours and celebration as Taiwan held its first pride parade since making history in Asia by legalising gay marriage AFP/Getty 47/50 25 October 2019 A girl enjoys a ball bath as she is being photographed at the made-for-Instagram museum 'Cali Dreams' in Dusseldorf, Germany. No artworks are shown in this museum, rather each visitor himself becomes an artwork by staging himself in front of one of the 25 sceneries. Cali Dreams is initially open for three months. After this test phase, however, the museum is planned as a long-term project EPA 48/50 24 October 2019 A fire lorry speeds towards a rampant wildfire near Geyserville, California AFP/Getty 49/50 23 October 2019 Protesters facing Lebanese army soldiers wave national flags in the area of Jal al-Dib in the northern outskirts of Beirut. A week of unprecedented street protests against the political class showed no signs of abating, despite the army moving to reopen key roads. Protests were sparked on October 17 by a proposed tax on WhatsApp and other messaging apps AFP/Getty 50/50 22 October 2019 Liberal leader and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves to supporters beside his wife Sophie after the federal election at the Palais des Congres in Montreal. He managed to hold on to power, albeit of a minority government, in one of the most divisive elections in the country’s history Reuters

But the Horowitz report has also given Steele the opportunity to deny in his testimony that he was vindictive towards the Trump family from the start.

The idea was “ridiculous”, insisted the former MI6 officer, stressing that if anything, he was “favourably disposed towards the Trump family before he began his research”. He told Department of Justice officials that he had met “a Trump family member at Trump Tower and ‘been friendly’ with [the family member] for years” even giving that person “a family tartan”.

They were close enough to discuss, in an exchange of emails in 2008, meeting for dinner at a restaurant near Trump Tower in New York.

The Justice Department document did not name the Trump family member. The identity was provided by the broadcaster, ABC, which had seen emails between Steele and Ivanka Trump.

Steele, who co-founded the business intelligence firm Orbis in London after leaving MI6, where he had headed the Russia desk, was hired by opponents of Trump to inquire into his Russian links through the US company Fusion GPS.

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Steel told the Horowitz inquiry that his report was “not designed to be a finished product and instead had to be briefed off of orally versus consumed as a written product”. His document was “mostly single source reporting” but included “background research and his judgement as an intelligence professional”.

Trump supporters have regularly claimed it was Steele’s report that led to the investigations by the US intelligence and security services, the special counsel and various congressional committees.

In fact the beginning of the investigations lay with information passed to the then Australian High Commissioner in London, Alexander Downer, by George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor for the Trump campaign, in May 2016. This information was passed on to the FBI by Australia’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

Steele, nevertheless, has become regular target for vilification by the Trump camp. The US president has called him, variously, “a failed spy”, “a fraud”, “of the fraudulent dossier fame” with “ties to Crooked Hillary”.

There is no evidence that Ivanka Trump and Steele entered into a business relationship.

Ivanka Trump’s name, however, has surfaced a number of times during the investigation into Trump and the Russia connection by special counsel Robert Mueller and others.

She and her brother, Donald Jr, are said to have received regular updates from Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, now in prison after being arrested in the Mueller inquiry, about a Trump organisation project, Moscow Tower, in the Russian capital.

Ivanka Trump held that she was “only minimally involved”. Trump Jr had told the House Judiciary Committee that he was “peripherally aware of it” in testimony given in September 2017.

Around the same time, details emerged about the involvement of Felix Sater, a childhood friend of Cohen, with the Trump family.

Sater, born Felix Sheferovsky in Russia, was once jailed for stabbing a man in the neck and face with the stem of a broken cocktail glass (he was drinking a margarita), and prosecuted again, in 1998, for his role in an investment scam in which Russian and American organised crime targeted the elderly.

He avoided prison and a potential sentence of 20 years by becoming an FBI informer, eventually paying a $25,000 fine. According to prosecution papers he became a source of information including on the mafia and al-Qaeda.

Sater later went into business with Trump and became a partner of the future president through a company called Bayrock, in connection with the construction of the Trump Soho hotel. The two men appeared at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for joint projects and went on business trips together.

Sater boasted that he was so close to the Trump family that he was asked by Donald to squire Donald Jr and Ivanka on a trip to Moscow. A man of obvious connections, he arranged during the trip for Ivanka to sit in Putin’s chair in the president’s office in the Kremlin.

Ivanka Trump recalled that her trip to Moscow included “a brief tour of Red Square and the Kremlin”, and this may have involved sitting at Putin’s desk. She could not quite remember, however, whether she had done so.