It's past time to hear from the president himself

Ruth Marcus on Feb 25, 2018

Do you believe it is appropriate for your EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, to fly first-class at taxpayers' expense?

Do you believe that your Veterans Administration secretary, David Shulkin, should resign after an inspector general investigation found that he went on a 10-day junket to Copenhagen and London, including taking free Wimbledon tickets?

Was it appropriate for Rob Porter to remain on the White House staff after officials there learned about allegations that he abused his former wives? If not, why was no action taken against him until the information became public? Why did you say you hope that Porter "has a great career ahead of him"? Why did it take you nine days to speak out against domestic abuse?

Without delving into details of your personal life, did you know that your lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged for the payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking publicly about her assertion that she had an affair with you? When did you become aware of that payment? Did you approve it? Was it proper? Did any of the money come from you? If not, what do you know about where it came from?

You said during the campaign that all the women who accused you of harassing or assaulting them were liars and would be sued. Do you still claim they were lying? Where are the lawsuits?

Are your taxes still being audited?

Mr. President, we have a lot of other questions on issues of substance, from the deficits that the United States faces as a result of new tax cuts and spending increases to your policies on guns.

Your predecessors regularly made themselves available for news conferences, which serve a different function than answering shouted questions. Will you come back?

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.