DOJ official told lawmakers that Russia believed it had Trump 'over a barrel' during closed-door briefing: report

Bruce Ohr, an official at the Department of Justice who has been publicly attacked repeatedly by President Donald Trump, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week that the Russian government believed that it had deeply compromising information on Trump during the 2016 election.

The Associated Press is reporting that Ohr told lawmakers this week that he first learned about Russia potentially having blackmail material on Trump when he talked with former MI6 spy Christopher Steele in July 2016.

In particular, Ohr said Steele told him that Russian intelligence agencies believed they had Trump "over a barrel" when he was running for president.

American intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russian government directly interfered during the 2016 election to help Trump win. While it has yet to be proven that Trump's campaign directly conspired with the Russians, Donald Trump Jr. infamously held a meeting with Russian officials in June 2016 to discuss the possibility of obtaining damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into whether the Trump campaign conspired to help Russia influence the election, as well as whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice in an effort to block any investigation of his campaign's potential involvement with Russia.