Ivanka Trump sits in the president's place at the G20

Ivanka Trump sits in the president's place at the G20

Ivanka Trump turned heads on Saturday at the G20 summit by temporarily taking a seat at the big-kids' table when her father, President Donald Trump, stepped out for a bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

A White House official told DailyMail.com that the younger Trump's fill-in role was nothing out of the ordinary. 

UK Prime Minister Theresa May was seen leaving the G20 meeting room at one point, a source with knowledge of the summit's goings-on said, and her place was briefly taken by an aide. 

But when the 35-year-old former fashion executive sat at the table with Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Angela Merkel and Theresa May, Trump's enemies pounced.

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This photo, snapped by a Russian official at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, shows the moment when Ivanka Trump stood in for her father and sat with world leaders

Ivanka Trump daughter and personal adviser of US President Donald J. Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin look on as US President Donald Trump arrives for the morning working session on the second day of the G20 economic summit in Hamburg

Transfixed: Ivanka Trump appears focused on German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G20 summit in Hamburg on Saturday 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left to right, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, United States President Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pose for a photo after their meeting in Hamburg on Saturday 

(From left to right) The Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, the chairwoman of the Holmarcom Group Meriem Bensalah, the daughter of US President Donald Trump Ivanka Trump, founder and director of Enda inter-Arabe, Essma ben Hamida, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde, the founder and chairwoman of Quali Health, Nthabiseng Legoete, an unidentified woman and the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria pose during a panel discussion titled 'Launch Event Women's Entrepreneur Finance Initiative' during the G20 summit in Hamburg

Good morning: Angela Merkel says hello to Ivanka Trump at they attend the the launch event of the 'Women's Entrepreneurship Facility' in Hamburg 

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde (R) looks on as German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets Ivanka Trump

US President Donald Trump (R) holds his daughter Ivanka Trump (C) at a panel discussion titled 'Launch Event Women's Entrepreneur Finance Initiative'

Historian Anne Applebaum tweeted a complaint, denouncing 'an unelected, unqualified, unprepared New York socialite' being seen as 'the best person to represent American national interests.'

Brian Klass, an Oxford scholar who once served as deputy campaign manager for a Democratic governor of Minnesota, tweeted that she was representing the U.S. as an 'unelected, unqualified daughter-in-chief.'

'This kind of thing happens all the time. In dictatorships,' added self-described women's rights activist Amy Siskind.

And Charles Blow, the liberal New York Times columnist, wrote flatly: 'Why the hell is Ivanka Trump sitting in for daddy at G20 meetings?! What are her qualifi cations? Who voted for her?'

It's not uncommon for leaders to send proxies to attend meetings in their steads, even at high-profile international summits. 

Hillary Clinton also famously stepped in during the 1990s to lead a government commission on redesigning the nation's health care system, standing in for her husband despite not having been elected to any official post. 

The Trump White House official said Saturday that Ms. Trump 'was sitting in the back and then briefly joined the main table when the President had to step out.'

Pleased to meet you: Indian Prime minsiter Modi and Jean-Claude Juncker say hello to Ivanka Trump at the G20 on Saturday morning 

U.S. President Donald Trump nd his daughter Ivanka Trump arrive for a working session at the G-20 summit in Hamburg

The president delivered remarks Saturday morning at an event to promote the $300 million fund, to which the U.S. has given $50 million

Reactions from Trump critics were fast and furious after the Ivnaka photo went viral

Ivanka Trump takes her seat at the beginning of the third working session of the G20 meeting in Hambur

The official said that when Ivanka stepped up, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim had begun to talk about 'areas such as African development â€" areas that will benefit from the facility just announced by the World Bank.'

That facility, a women's entrepreneurship empowerment fund, was spearheaded by Ivanka and has grown to $300 million with the help of a $50 million U.S. donation. 

Earlier in the day Trump waxed lyrical about his daughter before a bevy of world leaders who had gathered to promote the fund and its goals.

'I'm very proud of my daughter, Ivanka â€" always have been, from day one,' the president said. 'She's always been great. A champion. She's a champion.'

Trump then drew chuckles when he mused about whether he had made her life more difficult by attracting controversy as a famous rhetorical swashbuckler.

'If she weren't my daughter, it would be so much easier for her,' he said. 'Might be the only bad thing she has going, if you want to know the truth.'

Saturday's photo of Ivanka briefly filling the president's seat was posted on Twitter by Svetlana Lukash, a Russian official attending the G20 summit. She later deleted it from her account.

That, said a U.S. official, may have been because the working session was considered a private meeting â€" and publishing photos without press credentials is forbidden.

Exchange: Ivanka Trump talks with world leaders at in Germany - where she appeared to sit in on her father's chair - angering his critics 

Ms. Trump, shown in the background at her regular seat, temporarily came forward when the president stepped out for a private one-on-one meeting with Indonesia's president; the leader of the World Bank had just begun talking about a women's entrepreneurship fund she helped launch

The daughter of the US President Ivanka Trump (C) talks to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres (L) and the Secretary of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Jose Angel Gurria (R) during the "Women's Entrepreneurship Finance Event" at the G20 Summit in Hamburg