Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) tried to get President Trump to release his tax returns on Wednesday by sending out a tweet asking for 18 million retweets, but he fell way short of his goal–by nearly 18 million.
Wyden tweeted a question at Trump's Twitter account, asking, "If this gets 18 million retweets, will you release your tax returns?"
.@realdonaldtrump if this gets 18 million retweets, will you release your tax returns?
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 12, 2017
It is unclear why Wyden chose the number 18 million, but one growing theory is that he wanted to kill two birds with one stone, getting Trump to release his tax returns while also receiving free chicken nuggets for a year from the fast-food restaurant chain Wendy's.
The theory stems from last week, when a young man named Carter Wilkerson tweeted at the Wendy's Twitter account asking how many retweets he needed for a year of free chicken nuggets.
Yo @Wendys how many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
Wendy's responded:
@carterjwm 18 Million
— Wendy's (@Wendys) April 6, 2017
Wilkerson accepted the challenge and has accumulated over 2.7 million retweets on Twitter as of Thursday morning.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
Wyden has only accumulated just short of 13,000 retweets asking for Trump to release his tax returns.
As the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Wyden has long sought to get Trump to release his tax returns to the public. He is slated to speak at this weekend's Tax March in Washington, where he will join Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) in calling for Trump to release his tax returns.
Trump resisted repeated calls for him to release his tax returns during the presidential campaign.
Wyden may be able to attract more attention to his goal of 18 million retweets on Saturday.