SNA (Tokyo) — Americans march in Tokyo to demand the release of Donald Trump’s tax returns and transparency in US policymaking. One of the key organizers, Jesse Glickstein, speaks to the Shingetsu News Agency.

Jesse Glickstein: The main ask of the march is demanding President Trump to release his tax returns, which is something he promised to do during his campaign and has since abandoned that promise. It’s something that all presidents have done since 1976. For a president with unprecedented conflicts of interest and unprecedented business interests, many people around the country and indeed around the world believe it’s vital that we see his tax returns, we understand his conflicts of interest, in order to have an open and honest debate about the various policies, both domestic and foreign, that he seeks to implement.

It’s been rumored, we don’t really know, that President Trump has significant loans from Russian banks, potentially interests in China which may have impacted his decision, for example, to reverse himself on the One China Policy. He’s been making statements for fifteen years that if he ran for president, disclosing is no problem. Indeed, for most people it’s no problem, Democrat or Republican. So the question is, why isn’t he releasing it? That is concerning. It feels like there is something hidden in there. It is a president who has an unprecedented track record for not telling the full truth. At times it seems intentionally distorting truths. That concerns me.

He is very good at distracting the public from an issue when he is pressed and feels under pressure. That’s concerning. I think, just like all of the other presidents in the past forty years, we have a right to know whether or not he’s hiding something.

We are still Americans. We vote. We call our representatives. We’re not just marching on the street. Those of us on the street are also very active in advocating for the issues we believe in. Americans living abroad are especially concerned about these issues as pertaining to foreign policy, because our families are here, our lives are here.

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