As procrastinating Claremonters trudged into the Village post office to send in their last-minute tax returns, one group was calling on the President to publicize his.

A small but scrappy group of Claremonters, including members of the Democratic Club of Claremont (DCC) and MoveForward—a local version of MoveOn.org—held up signs Tuesday morning urging President Donald Trump to release his tax returns.

Protestor and retired philosophy professor Merrill Ring noted that Claremont’s protest wasn’t part of the other protests across the country on April 15—when thousands of people marched in the streets from Los Angeles to Mar-A-Lago, calling for the returns to be released.

“We decided to do it on the actual day,” Mr. Ring said.

Mr. Ring and Carol Whitson, both members of DCC, were stationed behind two tables full of literature and pamphlets on why Mr. Trump should release his returns. One pamphlet read, “This is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue.”

The president’s detractors have been clamoring for him to release his tax returns for months, even before he won the election in November. At first, Mr. Trump claimed he was under an audit from the IRS, and then he said the American people didn’t care what was in his tax returns.

One of the tables contained information on how to contact California’s elected leaders, including Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein and Representatives Judy Chu, Norma Torres, Grace Napolitano and Pete Aguilar.

“Someone wanted to send one to Adam Schiff, so we’re looking up his address,” Ms. Whitson said.

One petition available was drafted in an effort to create a law that would make it mandatory for presidential candidates to release their tax returns. Although the process is voluntary, every president since Richard Nixon has made thir tax returns available, according to CNN.  

When asked if Mr. Trump will ever release his returns, both Ms. Whitson and Mr. Ring gave similar responses, with Mr. Ring saying “Not voluntary,” and Ms. Whitson noting, “Only if he has to.”

They both joked about Mr. Trump and his supporters’ responses to the numerous protests in the past few months.

“I haven’t seen my check yet,” Mr. Ring quipped.

—Matthew Bramlett

news@claremont-courier.com