Ivanka Trump and dossier author Christopher Steele maintained a years-long correspondence

Dossier author Christopher Steele met Ivanka Trump nearly a decade before her father's election campaign, and they corresponded for years.

The relationship was alluded to in the Department of Justice inspector general's report released Monday, showing that Steele was favorably disposed to Donald Trump and his family due to the relationship.

ABC News confirmed that Steele and the president's daughter had met at a dinner in 2007, and Ivanka Trump corresponded with the former British spy about a possible working relationship.

The department's inspector general report found Steele was not biased against Trump when he began compiling opposition research based on his contacts in Russia, where he served as MI6's top intelligence officer.

Ivanka Trump remained in touch with Steele after he went into private practice in 2010, but the pair never worked together.

She invited Steele to Trump Tower that year to discuss the possibility of him working for the Trump Organization doing due diligence abroad as part of his work for Orbis.

The president has seethed about the dossier compiled during the 2016 campaign by Steele, who found that Trump had extensive contacts in Russia and could be subject to blackmail by the Kremlin.