Some are saying it was inappropriate for Ivanka Trump to step in for her father at a G20 Summit meeting, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the First Daughter didn’t do anything wrong.
Merkel said Saturday that it is common for delegations to choose other people to sit in on meetings in place of their respective leaders, according to the Associated Press.
“Ivanka Trump belonged to the American delegation, so that is in line with what other delegations do. And it is known that she works at the White House and carries responsibility for certain initiatives,” Merkel said.
Ivanka briefly took President Donald Trump’s seat at an official G20 event when he stepped out of the room. Photographs show her sitting in between Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The swap prompted backlash on social media.
Sort of the whole point of America was that governmental authority was bestowed by the people not by birth https://t.co/2sE1a6Vlcr
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) July 8, 2017
Journalist Kurt Eichenwald criticized the move calling it “a historic, idiotic blunder.”
What is so horrifying is that Cult45 will have no idea 4 at least a decade why Ivanka representing US at G-20 is a historic, idiotic blunder
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 8, 2017
Russia in cyberwar against West. Trump insults US intel, accepts Putin's word, and sends his daughter to the G-20. This is like a bad novel.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/espiers/status/883675815262683136
One of former President Barack Obama’s former advisors tweeted, “Sort of the whole point of America was that governmental authority was bestowed by the people not by birth.”
