Shawn GriffithsWikiLeaks wants President Trump's tax returns since he will not release them himself. WikiLeaks took to Twitter Sunday, claiming that if the White House doesn't release them, they would.
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/823212055322853382
Responding to a White House petition that calls on President Trump to release his tax returns, Kellyanne Conway told ABC's George Stephanopoulos flatly that the president will not be releasing that information.
"The White House response is that he is not going to release his tax return. We litigated this all through the election. People didn't care; they voted for him. And let me make this very clear, most Americans are very focused on what their tax returns will look like while President Trump is in office," said Conway.
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/823460271561682945
The White House petition has garnered nearly 270,000 signatures (as of the publication of this article). It says the returns need to verify that Trump is in compliance with the Emoluments Clause (or Title of Nobility Clause) of the U.S. Constitution.
After Conway's appearance on This Week, WikiLeaks said they would release the tax returns if someone submits them using the website's submit function.
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/823217610095558656
WikiLeaks is still taking heat for publishing hacked emails from DNC officials and former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta during the 2016 presidential election. The emails exposed corroboration between members of the press and the Clinton camp, as well as documented evidence that DNC officials took actions to rig the primary in Clinton's favor.
Critics accuse WikiLeaks of favoring Trump over Clinton, even going as far as to say the nonprofit, open data group was intentionally trying to influence the results of the election in Trump's favor: Source: The Hill
Source: Newsy
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Guardian
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has repeatedly denied that WikiLeaks was trying to help one candidate over the other.
“I feel sorry for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They are two people that are tormented by their ambitions,” he said in October. During a media blitz earlier this month, Assange said WikiLeaks “didn’t hope for any particular manner,” when asked about the election results. He added that like many others, WikiLeaks believed Clinton was going to win.
ALSO READ: WikiLeaks Wants to Tear Down the Two-Party System
This is also not the first time WikiLeaks has asked for Trump's tax returns, as pointed out by one person on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BenSpielberg/status/823230871025123330
Now that he is in the Oval Office, President Trump is going to be an even bigger target for groups like WikiLeaks and Anonymous, who warned the president last week that they will expose his dirty secrets and that he will "regret the next 4 years."
Update 1/23/17: Kellyanne Conway walked back her statements from Sunday, now sticking with the campaign line that Trump will release his tax returns when he is no longer under audit:
https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/823515949068324864
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