Trump campaign downplays notion of not releasing tax returns

A spokeswoman for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Wednesday downplayed the presumptive GOP nominee’s reported comments this week about withholding his tax returns, saying Mr. Trump will be making his case to Americans on more important matters.

“I think it’s going to be just fine,” campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said on Fox Business Network. “At the end of the day, we are looking at the policies that Mr. Trump does hold for America, whether it’s securing the border, building the wall, getting actual free and fair trade policies in place, and national security.”

“That’s what people care about,” she said.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Mr. Trump said he wouldn’t release his tax returns until an ongoing audit is completed.

“Now, I hope it gets finished soon. And if it gets finished soon, I put it out immediately because there’s nothing there. But until you get finished, you won’t,” Mr. Trump told the AP.

He took to Twitter later on Wednesday to clarify his comments, saying: “In interview I told @AP that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election!”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who faced pressure himself to release his tax information during the 2012 campaign, slammed Mr. Trump on Wednesday over the issue.

“It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service,” Mr. Romney said in a Facebook post.

Ms. Pierson said they’re going to have critics from here through the inauguration at this point.

“At the end of the day, Mr. Trump is going to be solely focused on getting out there, having these rallies, engaging with the public, putting his message to make America great again and fighting back against these horrible liberal policies that have hurt the country over the last eight years,” she said.