President Trump on Monday defended Ivanka Trump taking his seat during a G20 meeting.
President Trump is defending his daughter and White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, who briefly took his seat during a G-20 meeting.
He tweeted Monday morning, "When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat. Very standard. Angela [Merkel] agrees!"
Trump continued, "If Chelsea Clinton were asked to hold the seat for her mother,as her mother gave our country away, the Fake News would say CHELSEA FOR PRES! "
The controversy began on Saturday when a photo posted on social media showed Ivanka sitting next to other world leaders.
According to the Washington Post, "The first daughter was spotted slipping into Trump's seat at a working session on 'Partnership with Africa, Migration and Health,' putting her shoulder-to-shoulder with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Russian President Vladimir Putin was sitting one seat down."
Reacting to the photo, Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, tweeted, "This is strange. Very strange."
Another Twitter commenter said, "Ivanka Trump, unelected, unqualified, daughter-in-chief, is representing the US at the G20 summit next to May, Xi, Merkel."
However, as President Trump indicated in his tweet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel did comment that this wasn't unusual.
“The delegations themselves decide, should the president not be present for a meeting, who will then take over and sit in the chair,” Merkel told reporters according to Bloomberg. “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.”