Ivanka Trump ‘had Russia business talks’ with spy Christopher Steele
Ivanka Trump ‘had Russia business talks’ with spy Christopher Steele
December 11 2019, 12:01am,
Ivanka Trump met Christopher Steele in 2007 and they became friends, a source claimedRYAN MCBRIDE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Ivanka Trump discussed expanding her family’s business in Russia and China with the former MI6 spy who later provided the FBI with explosive claims about her father, according to a source.
A report by the US Department of Justice’s inspector-general, published this week, revealed claims by Christopher Steele that he had been friends with a member of the Trump family. The British former intelligence officer was the author of the 2016 dossier on
Donald Trump that included unsubstantiated allegations that Russia held sexually lurid information about him.
Earlier this year Mr Steele
told the inspector-general’s review, which examined the FBI’s investigation into Mr Trump’s alleged links with Russia, that he had been “favourably disposed” towards the Trump family before he compiled the dossier. Critics have suggested that Mr Steele’s dossier was politically motivated.
It was claimed last night that Mr Steele met Ms Trump in 2007 when he sat next to her at a dinner for about 20 people hosted at Annabel’s, the exclusive Mayfair club. The source said that David Cameron, then leader of the opposition, and Strobe Talbott, then US deputy secretary of state, were speakers at the dinner, which was organised by a group of businessmen to discuss philanthropic funding of political research.
Mr Steele and Ms Trump became friends and discussed her finding appropriate business partners in Russia and China, it was claimed by the source who was familiar with past contact between the pair. An intelligence officer until 2009, Mr Steele went on to found Orbis, a corporate intelligence firm that offered advice on doing business in emerging and difficult markets.
The US inspector-general’s report criticised Mr Steele over his judgment but noted that witnesses said that he had no history of reporting in bad faith. Lawyers acting for Orbis rejected the inspector-general’s findings and defended Mr Steele’s professional work.
The Times contacted the White House for comment.