Washington — Former President Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered his first public remarks since leaving office, focusing on preserving Social Security but he also urged that “we can’t go on like this as a divided nation.”
Biden assailed President Trump’s administration but did not name Mr. Trump directly. He also didn’t address his departure from last year’s presidential race.
The former president called Social Security a “sacred promise.” He touted his administration’s efforts to cut Social Security fraud, and mocked claims by the Trump administration — including Mr. Trump’s cost-cutting czar Elon Musk — that scores of implausibly old people are collecting payments.
“By the way, those 300-year-old folk getting that Social Security, I want to meet them,” Biden said. “Hell of a thing, man. I’m looking for longevity.”
Biden criticized Mr. Trump’s tax cuts in his first term by referring to “the last time this guy had the job,” and said “this new administration” has “done so much damage” to the Social Security Administration by cutting staff. He also assailed Musk for calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for suggesting his mother-in-law wouldn’t complain if she missed a payment — but didn’t name either of them.
He blasted “some Republican members of Congress” for, in his view, seeking to “cut and gut” Social Security: “Who the hell do they think they are?”
Nam Y. Huh / AP 
The 82-year-old former president, who left office on Jan. 20, has until now largely remained out of the spotlight. And Biden’s appearance comes as Democrats have sought to reorganize themselves after the party endured bruising losses in the 2024 elections, while Mr. Trump has continued to hurl criticism at his predecessor in the three months since he returned to office.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who served as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration under Biden, introduced Biden, and former Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan are set to address later in the week.
“We are honored President Biden has selected the 2025 ACRD Conference to address the nation,” O’Malley, an adviser to the group, said in a statement, while citing “widespread concern the progress recently made for Social Security will be tragically reversed.”
The former president’s appearance comes as Democratic leaders have warned of threats to Social Security amid the Trump administration’s slashing of government programs and agencies under the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Concerns about the health of the program amid recent attempts to significantly shrink the agency have abounded.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is leading his members on a number of days of action focused on opposing the Trump administration as Congress is in recess, with a “Save Social Security Day of Action” Tuesday. The minority leader held a news conference Tuesday morning, where he stressed that Social Security “faces an unprecedented assault.”
“Donald Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans think that Social Security is a ponzi scheme,” Jeffries said, adding that “it is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans are dismantling and closing Social Security offices, jacking up wait times and preventing hard-working Americans from securing their benefits.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-first-public-remarks-since-leaving-office-social-security/
