WikiLeaks targets Trump after tax u-turn

Counselor to President, Kellyanne Conway, said this morning that Trump will not release his tax returns. Photo / Getty

Donald Trump will not be releasing his tax returns despite repeated promises to do so during his election campaign.

The move is a u-turn on his campaign pledge and breaks with 40 years of White House tradition intended to reveal the financial interests and obligations of the president to the public.

During the election Trump repeatedly said he would release his tax returns to the public after an audit had been completed, but under questioning today a top aide said it won't happen.

"The White House response is that he's not going to release his tax returns. We litigated this all through the election. People didn't care. They voted for him," Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president told ABC's This Week on Monday (NZT).

An online petition to the White House for the release of the tax returns has garnered well over the required 100,000 signatories required to elicit an official response.

Conway said people don't care about Trump's tax returns and are instead interested in how their own taxes will look during his presidency.

WikiLeaks have taken umbrage with the decision on social media today.

The online organisation, which publishes classified documents, was involved in leaking thousands of damaging emails from the Democratic National Convention and top Clinton aides during the election.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange participates via video link at a news conference marking the 10th anniversary of the secrecy-spilling group in Berlin, Germany. Photo / Getty

WikiLeaks is now asking for people to leak the returns to them so they can publish them.

"Trump Counselor Kellyanne Conway stated today that Trump will not release his tax returns. Send them to: https://wikileaks.org/#submit so we can," they tweeted on Monday.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took a strong stance against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the election and frequently released leaked material, posted anti-Clinton memes and teased further action against her.

Julian Assange recently appeared in a series of interviews with Sean Hannity of Fox News, a fervent Trump supporter, where he played down Russian involvement in the DNC hacks and said the liberal media were trying to "delegitimise" Trump.