The Washington Post’s Todd Frankel joins to talk about how Elon Musk and Trump’s claims of rampant fraud and waste at the Social Security Administration are overblown. Meanwhile, new rules on Social Security overpayments go into effect this week, CBS News reports. Erin Mulvaney with the Wall Street Journal explains why Trump is targeting law firms with executive orders. The leaders of NPR and PBS testified on Capitol Hill, as public media comes under attack. CNN’s Brian Stelter discusses how Trump’s war on the media is different in his second term. Plus, Trump hit the auto industry with new tariffs, another college student was detained in the administration’s immigration crackdown, and why robot umpires won’t be on the field for MLB’s Opening Day. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: What changes are happening with Social Security overpayments?
It's rare, but sometimes Social Security overpays someone. It can happen if there's been a miscalculation or if that person didn't update their income. In the past, the agency would withhold 10% of that person's future benefits until they paid back the overpayment. But starting today, the agency will take 100% of future benefits until the overpayment has been corrected.
A 2024 internal audit found overpayments accounted for less than 1% of all benefits paid between the 2015 and 2022 fiscal years, about $72 billion. Two-thirds of that money was eventually recovered. For context, Social Security distributes close to $1.6 trillion in benefits every year. It's also important to note Social Security is paid for by Americans through a dedicated payroll tax.
Chapter 2: How significant is Social Security waste and fraud?
This is just one of many changes President Trump and Elon Musk have made to Social Security in the past few weeks. And in spite of what internal audits like the one I just mentioned have shown, Trump and Musk claim the benefits system, which serves over 70 million retired people, is plagued by waste and fraud.
The administration has announced plans to eliminate thousands of jobs at the agency, close offices, and eliminate the ability for people to file claims by phone. They initially planned to require all claims be filed either in person or online, but they partially walked back that plan after media organizations started reporting on it.
Chapter 3: What are the consequences of staffing cuts at the Social Security Administration?
Still, The Washington Post reports that the Social Security website has been so overloaded that it crashed at least four times this month. And staffing at the agency has already gotten so low, some offices are struggling to handle the influx of calls. Some callers report being on hold for four or five hours.
One reason why Musk is so focused on cuts at Social Security is because the agency accounts for about 20 percent of all federal spending. But Washington Post reporter Todd Frankel told us some of the moves the Doge team has made will actually make it more difficult to root out potential fraud.
At Social Security Administration and pretty much every other federal agency, they have their own inspector generals who are these teams who are supposed to hunt down the exact same thing, waste, fraud, and abuse. And when Trump came into office, there were 17 different inspector generals across the federal government. He fired them all.
Frankel says Social Security is one of the most scrutinized and audited agencies in government.
The federal government actually has a fairly robust system of checks and balances to keep an eye on where that money is flowing.
Social Security is also subject to frequent probes by its Office of Inspector General, which has 500 people on staff. It pays outside auditors to examine its books. Congress regularly questions agency officials. And government watchdogs have not found fraud anywhere close to the level Musk has claimed exists.
Frankel reports that the changes to Social Security, both ones that have been considered and those that have been enacted, threaten to disrupt the agency's ability to serve the public. And Social Security is popular among Americans. In fact, an AP-NORC poll earlier this year said two-thirds of Americans think the government is spending too little on Social Security.
It's known as the third rail in politics because the third rail is electrified in some ways, and politicians are fearful to touch it, to mess with it. And President Trump has said that he's not going to cut Medicare or Social Security. It's an incredibly popular benefit. It was established to sort of curb this epidemic of poverty among senior citizens in the U.S.
And so I think what's really caught folks off ideas and their minds. Today, as Doge says, they're going after waste, fraud and abuse. But if there isn't too much waste, fraud and abuse within Social Security, well, where are you going to get those savings from? So folks are worried that they're going to go after the actual benefits themselves.
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Chapter 4: Why is Trump targeting law firms with executive orders?
In a series of recent executive orders, Trump revoked security clearances for a number of lawyers at the firm Covington & Burling, who did work for former special counsel Jack Smith. Trump also took away security clearance for the firm Perkins Coie. Two lawyers who used to work there did opposition research for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.
The president issued a similar order against the firm Paul Weiss, which had employed a lawyer who spent several years trying to build a criminal case against Trump in Manhattan.
And the president has directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to launch a broad review of attorneys involved in litigation against the government over the last eight years so he can decide if he wants to levy more penalties on other firms. The Wall Street Journal reports that more than a dozen law firms have been identified as possible future targets.
Chapter 5: What impact are Trump's actions having on the legal industry?
National legal affairs reporter Erin Mulvaney told us these moves have shocked the legal industry and are intimidating high-profile firms.
I think it is a fear of just not being in the crosshairs, and that's why a lot of big firms are just trying to stay quiet, especially those that haven't been targeted at all at this point.
Trump's orders aim to strip these law firms of their business by banning lawyers from government buildings and barring companies that have federal contracts from employing these firms.
So many of these big, giant companies have federal contracts that are very lucrative. So that would be probably the most destructive to their business.
Some of the firms named in Trump's orders are losing clients who say they're afraid of being affiliated with a firm he's targeting. Some places like Perkins Coie have sued the administration. A judge issued a temporary restraining order in their case, and the Trump administration is now seeking to remove the judge from that case.
Meanwhile, the firm Paul Weiss decided they would make concessions and agreed to provide $40 million in pro bono work on issues that Trump says support the administration's initiatives. In return, the president rescinded his executive order targeting Paul Weiss. But Mulvaney reports a number of firms are split on whether they would take a similar deal if targeted or fight back in court.
You might win in court, but at the end of the day, your law firm may not survive. And I think that's why there's so much fear and anxiety right now.
Yet another firm was targeted on Tuesday because it had employed a lawyer who worked with special counsel Robert Mueller, who previously investigated Trump during his first administration. The Washington Post reports the effects of the crackdown are just starting to be felt. Some Biden-era officials told the Post they're having trouble finding lawyers willing to defend them.
And some small nonprofits poised to challenge the Trump administration say the well-resourced law firms that they might have turned to for backing are now steering clear. Yesterday, public media went to Washington to defend itself against calls to defund it. A subcommittee in the House led by Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene called on the CEOs of NPR and PBS to testify.
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