WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia — Alabama Governor Robert Bentley swiftly reversed his call for Mitt Romney to release tax returns.
Bentley, a Republican, was quoted by the Associated Press calling on the presumptive Republican nominee to provide his tax returns for public examination.
BuzzFeed caught up with Bentley at the National Governors Association and asked him about his call for Romney to release his tax returns. He responded by saying he did not call on Romney to do anything, but that everyone should release their tax returns.
"I didn’t call on him to do that. That’s not the question that was asked," he said. "The question that was asked was do you believe that Gov. Romney should release his tax returns. I said I believe in total transparency, I believe that everyone should release their tax returns."
Bentley continued: "I release my tax returns every year and I just think that everyone should do that. You know, I did not call on him to do that. I just said that’s what I do, and I said I just might be the only public official in Alabama that does that, but I do that every year. I just think it gets an issue behind you when you go ahead and do it. I remember when President Bush did that. I would call on the president to do that also. I just think that it’s just easier to do that and get past that."
"If you have things to hide, then maybe you're doing things wrong," Bentley said. "I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people."