President Donald Trump’s taxes were a key issue during the 2016 presidential campaign. | Getty First White House petition demands Trump release tax returns The petition was launched through the 'We the People' White House site launched under the Obama administration.

The “We the People” petition site created by the Obama Administration has been kept live by President Donald Trump’s team as it relaunches the White House website, and the only petition now on the site, which has been wiped clean of Obama-era requests, demands that the new commander in chief release his tax returns.

“The unprecedented economic conflicts of this administration need to be visible to the American people, including any pertinent documentation which can reveal the foreign influences and financial interests which may put Donald Trump in conflict with the emoluments clause of the Constitution,” the petition reads.


Trump’s taxes were a key issue during the 2016 presidential campaign. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Democrats repeatedly pointed out that Trump, by not releasing his taxes, defied his own pledge and the precedents of major party nominees going back decades. Trump has said that he is being audited by the IRS and that he will release his returns when any audits are over.

The petition calling for Trump to publish his returns gathered 2,762 signatures in the first three hours after Trump was inaugurated. The current site policy calls for petitions that get over 100,000 signatures to get a response from the White House.