Donald and Ivanka Trump talking about things at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany on July 8, 2017.
John MacDougall/ Getty Images
Despite claiming that she's trying to "stay out of politics" in interviews, Ivanka Trump couldn't be more involved. Today, the 35-year-old sat alongside world leaders in place of her father at the Group of 20 meeting held in Hamburg, Geremany. (Donald was supposedly busy tending to "one on one" meetings with other leaders.)
An official at the session told Bloomberg that Ivanka briefly sat in for Donald twice and remained silent during both meetings. Seeing as to how presidents, prime ministers, and chancellors participate in the high profile event, it seems somewhat inappropriate that an elected official would choose to have their child take their place. Staff of G20 summit leaders are permitted to stay in the room for meetings and fill in for them if they step out.
All nepotism aside, it might have made more sense for someone like the vice president or secretary of state to take a seat at that table rather than an unpaid adviser. (As BBC reports, leaders are typically replaced with other "high-ranking officials.")
German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended Ivanka to the press, stating that "the delegations themselves decide, should the president not be present for a meeting, who will then take over and sit in the chair. She added, “Ivanka Trump was part and parcel of the American delegation so that is something that other delegations also do. It’s very well known that she works at the White House and is also engaged in certain initiatives.”
Many users on Twitters were not pleased with the Trumps for their latest stunt and expressed their disapproval accordingly. Read what they had to say in the tweets, below.