Two days after its creation, a We the People petition calling for the White House to “immediately release Donald Trump’s full tax returns, with all information needed to verify emoluments clause compliance” has already surpassed 100,000 signatures.
That means the White House is obligated to review the petition and issue an official response, though there are numerous examples of petitions that have crossed the 100,000 signature threshold and not received a reply since the We the People system was created in 2011.
Candidate Trump, of course, broke from decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns, and he’s shown no inclination to be more transparent following his election victory.
During a news conference on January 11, Trump dismissed the notion that anybody even cares about his tax returns.
“You know, the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters, okay? They’re the only ones,” Trump said. “I won; I mean, I became president. No, I don’t think they care at all. I don’t think they care at all. I think you care.”
Polling indicates Trump is wrong. A Pew survey conducted just ahead of the news conference found that 60 percent of respondents thought Trump has an obligation to release his tax returns.
And whether he releases his tax returns or not, President Trump’s continued ownership of his business — a business that takes money from foreign governments — means he’s violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, according to ethics experts on both sides of the aisle.