Former United States President Joe Biden has publicly criticised Donald Trump’s administration for the first time since leaving the White House, accusing it of damaging key government programmes.
Speaking at a disability rights event in Chicago on Tuesday, Biden said the Trump administration had “taken a hatchet” to Social Security — a programme that provides money to retired and disabled Americans.
“In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. It’s kind of breathtaking,” Biden said.
He did not mention Trump’s name directly, but his message was clear.
“Social Security is a sacred promise,” Biden said. “We know just how much it matters to people’s lives.”
The Social Security Agency, which handles over $1.6 trillion in yearly payments to about 67 million Americans, has been facing job cuts under a team led by billionaire Elon Musk. The group, called the Department of Government Efficiency, plans to cut 7,000 jobs.
Musk once called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Trump, however, has said he only wants to remove fraud and stop illegal immigrants from receiving benefits. On Tuesday, he signed an order blocking illegal immigrants and others he called “ineligible” from getting Social Security payments.
Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president is “absolutely certain” about protecting benefits for “law-abiding tax-paying American citizens and seniors.”
“He will always protect that programme,” she told reporters.
After Biden’s speech, the Social Security Agency — now under a Trump-appointed leader — posted on X that the former president was “lying” in his comments.
Since leaving office, Biden has remained mostly quiet. He recently signed with a talent agency in Los Angeles, but Tuesday’s speech marks a clear return to political debate as the 2024 election draws closer.
