Nixon released his tax returns in an attempt to forestall impeachment. He had already been labeled a crook, and wanted to demonstrate.
That others followed the move was a personal decision on their part. There is no reason or obligation for Trump to release anything except under circumstances of a criminal investigation.
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"He had already been labeled a crook, and wanted to demonstrate."
I don't think so. No one ever charged Nixon with being a thief, just the coverup of Watergate. But the real reason the democRATs went after Nixon was because he nailed the traitors Rosenbergs who were later executed for treason. And exposing Commies harming America is something no democRAT can ever forgive. It was payback.
Nixon "uncovered" BOTH the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss ...
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard...
Greenglass implicated the Rosenbergs in his confession, and the Rosenbergs were arrested. Their trial lasted from March 6th through March 29th, 1951, and after appeals they were executed on June 20, 1953. A young Richard Nixon made a name for himself as the congressional investigator who originally uncovered the Rosenbergs' crime.