Fact check: Trump rails about social security fraud without evidence
The president is now talking about how his domestic policy bill, which he signed into law last month, enshrines “no tax” on social security for America’s seniors.
He’s also bringing up one of his frequent talking points: egregious social security fraud.
“You have 12.4 million names listed in the social security database that were over 120 years of age, meaning you’re breaking records,” he said.
An important fact check here. The Social Security database does have the names of a number of Americans born as early in the 1920s (without death dates), but that doesn’t automatically mean that these people are receiving cheques. Also, a report from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general in 2024 found that only one per cent of total benefits paid between 2015-2022 were improper.
Key events
Trump repeats false claim that DC crime is ‘the worst it’s ever been’
The president has repeated the baseless claim that crime in the nation’s capital is the “worst it’s ever been”. He also described the situation as “tragic” and an “epidemic”.
A reminder that data from the justice department shows that DC experienced a 30-year low in violent crime low in 2024.
Trump was just asked whether he would give Putin access to rare minerals to incentivize him to end the war in Ukraine. He didn’t really answer that: “As far as rare earth that’s very unimportant…I’m trying to save lives,” he said.
The president went on to explain his hopes for the meeting.
“What I’m really doing this for is to say 1000s of soldiers a week. You have Russian soldiers, you have Ukrainian soldiers,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we’re having. We’re going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we’ll bring some of the European leaders on.”
Fact check: Trump rails about social security fraud without evidence
The president is now talking about how his domestic policy bill, which he signed into law last month, enshrines “no tax” on social security for America’s seniors.
He’s also bringing up one of his frequent talking points: egregious social security fraud.
“You have 12.4 million names listed in the social security database that were over 120 years of age, meaning you’re breaking records,” he said.
An important fact check here. The Social Security database does have the names of a number of Americans born as early in the 1920s (without death dates), but that doesn’t automatically mean that these people are receiving cheques. Also, a report from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general in 2024 found that only one per cent of total benefits paid between 2015-2022 were improper.
Trump delivers remarks in Oval Office on Social Security Act anniversary
Donald Trump is now addressing the press in the oval office. He’s issuing a presidential proclamation on the 90th anniversary of Social Security. He’s joined by the commissioner of the Social Security administration, Frank Bisignano.
In the campaign, I made a sacred pledge to our seniors that I would always protect Social Security, and under this administration, we’re keeping that promise and strengthening social security for generations to come.
Florida governor says state will open ‘deportation depot’ immigration jail
Richard Luscombe
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Thursday that the state will open a second immigration jail, as a federal judge weighs whether to close the controversial existing facility in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.
DeSantis painted the forthcoming detention center at the shuttered Baker correctional institution in Sanderson as supplementary to the remote tented camp. He also said the facility would hold up to 1,300 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation.
“We need additional capacity beyond what we’re already doing down in south Florida. There’s a massive part here at Baker that isn’t being used. [It’s] ready-made infrastructure,” DeSantis announced during a press conference at the disused jail 50 miles north of Gainesville.
Baker was closed in 2021 after numerous reports of excessive violence and abuse of inmates by guards.
The governor gave no timeline for its opening, but said the facility, which he said would be called “the deportation depot”, would be operational soon.
“We’re not rushing to do it right this day, but they’re doing what they need to do to get it done with all deliberate speed,” he said.
“It’s a priority for the people of this state, it’s a priority for the people of this country.”
The development came on the heels of district court judge Kathleen Williams hearing final arguments in Miami on Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by an alliance of environmental groups seeking to close Alligator Alcatraz.
Navarro says tariffs on pharmaceutical imports are still ‘likely’
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said in an interview with CNBC today that the Trump administration is still “likely” to implement tariffs on pharmaceutical imports. He said that these tariffs would likely be the result of the ongoing trade investigation to determine the national security impact of certain imports.
This comes, however, as the president signed an executive order yesterday to ensure a “resilient” supply chain for for essential medicines by filling the reserve of the stockpile of key pharmaceutical ingredients.
Yesterday, Reuters had exclusive reporting that tariffs on pharmaceutical imports are still “weeks away” – according to their sources. This is while the president focuses on his upcoming meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday.
California governor Gavin Newsom has taken to social media again today to mock the president – using his bizarre style of all-caps posting on Truth Social – and tee up his plans to offset the redistricting battle that began in Texas, after House Democrats broke quorum to protest a gerrymandered GOP-drawn map.
I, GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM, AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR (MANY SAY), WILL HOST THE GREATEST PRESS CONFERENCE OF ALL TIME. AFTER THAT — “THE MAPS” WILL SOON BE RELEASED. VERY MUCH ANTICIPATED. HISTORY MADE. THE GOP’S RIGGED GAME IS OVER!!!!
In just over an hour we can expect to hear from Donald Trump in the Oval Office. He’s due to deliver remarks which include issuing a presidential proclamation honoring the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act.
Senator Graham says White House to send funding package to secure ‘safety’ resources for DC
Republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that –following discussions with Trump, attorney general Pam Bondi and the president’s senior staffers yesterday – the White House will send a package to Graham and Republican senator Katie Britt of Alabama to “shepherd” a “DC Security Fund” through Congress.
Graham, who is chair of the Senate Budget Committee, wrote on X that the fund would “give President Trump the resources he will need to improve the safety and quality of life in our nation’s capital”.
Alice Speri
More than 120 education scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue of an academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship”.
In an open letter published on Thursday, the scholars denounced the abrupt scrapping of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review – which was first revealed by the Guardian in July – as an “attempt to silence the academic examination of the genocide, starvation and dehumanisation of Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies”.
The writers note that the issue’s censorship is also an example of “anti-Palestinian discrimination, obstructing the dissemination of knowledge on Palestine at the height of the genocide in Gaza”.
The scholars also asked for the publisher to apologize to the authors, commission a new special issue on Palestine and implement safeguards to protect editorial independence. They pledged to boycott the journal’s publisher and the affiliated Harvard Education Press until then.
The ordeal around the special Palestine issue played out against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s crackdown on US higher education institutions’ autonomy on the basis of combating alleged antisemitism on campuses.
Harvard is the only university that has sued the administration in response to the White House cutting billions of dollars in federal funds and other punishing measures it has unleashed on universities. But internally, Harvard has pre-empted many of the administration’s demands, including by demoting scholars, scrapping initiatives giving space to Palestinian narratives and adopting a controversial definition of antisemitism that critics say is antithetical to academic inquiry.
