On Saturday, Ivanka Trump took her father’s place at the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, breaking protocol followed by leaders at world summits, according to The Washington Post.
The Post reports that President Donald Trump was originally seated at the table alongside his daughter, but had to step out to attend other meetings.
Former NATO Ambassador Nicholas Burns told the Post that President Trump’s actions were a breach of protocols for these summits. Burns said that the G20 summit—as well as similar conferences for world leaders—are meant to showcase who has power in the government, and the secretary of state typically takes the president’s place if needed.
“This is a group of the 20 most powerful leaders in the world in the 20 most powerful countries in the world,” Burns said. “It conveys that impression and we are a democracy and that’s also important here.”
Since the beginning of his presidency, President Trump has been called out by many Americans because of his controversial mashup of family and government affairs—but this past weekend’s action also gained backlash from other G20 world leaders.
The Post reports that a senior European official who wanted to remain anonymous commented, “Yes, it stuck out. The very fact that his daughter is senior adviser smacks of the kind of nepotism not seen since John F. Kennedy named Robert F. Kennedy as attorney general.”
On Monday, Trump tweeted about the situation, saying that Ivanka taking his spot at the conference was “very standard” and that supposedly “Angela M,” most likely referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the host of this year’s G20 conference, agrees.
When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat. Very standard. Angela M agrees!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
He also found a way to weave in his two fave topics, the Clintons and fake news.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
From the looks of it, President Trump doesn’t see anything wrong with blurring the lines between family and politics—and he’ll probably keep tweeting about it, too.