President Trump will not release tax returns, senior adviser Conway says

Donald Trump's administration has confirmed that the new US President will not release his tax returns, despite a petition gathering 200,000 signatures imploring him to do so.

Senior adviser and former campaign manager for Trump Kellyanne Conway firmly rejected the idea of a release of Trump's taxes during an interview on ABC's This Week show.

The issue of the president's taxes came to the fore during his successful election campaign, when he consistently refused to publish his tax payments, going against decades of precedent.

Opponents say that releasing the records is the only way to know the true extent of Trump's business interests, and which companies and countries he owes money to.

Conway said on the programme that the issue of US citizens' tax bills was of more importance than that of the president.

"The White House response is that he's not going to release his tax returns," Conway said. "We litigated this all through the election. People didn't care."

"They voted for him, and let me make this very clear: Most Americans are very focused on what their tax returns will look like while President Trump is in office, not what his look like," she added.

Trump cited an ongoing IRS audit as the reason for not releasing the tax returns, which has been done by all candidates for the White House since 1972.

The incoming administration is facing pressure in its youthful days, after a weekend in which press secretary Sean Spicer made a dubious claim that Friday's swearing in of Trump "was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration". Press photographs from the event appear to suggest otherwise.

Conway added during her interview that Spicer had simply presented "alternative facts".