Former United States president Joe Biden on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump in his first major speech since leaving the White House, calling out his successor's frenetic government overhaul. Biden claimed that the "hatchet" effort put Americans' retirement benefits at risk. 

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"Fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage, and so much destruction - it's kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon," Biden told a conference of disability advocates in Chicago. 

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"They've taken a hatchet to the Social Security administration, pushing 7,000 employees out the door," said the former president said as he referred to the national agency which pays out retirement and disability benefits. 

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The 82-year-old Democrat spoke for around a half-hour but avoided any mention of Trump by name. He picked the topic of Social Security with the aim of ramping up pressure on Trump over his rampaging government overhaul efforts. 

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The former president highlighted staff reductions at the agency that Trump and his billionaire aide Elon Musk have pushed as part of their "Department of Government Efficiency". Biden said that the Social Security "website is crashing" and hindering retirees from getting their benefits.

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The programme, which more than 65 million Americans rely on, is colloquially known in Washington as the "third rail of politics" for its sensitivity to voters. 

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Biden said that many Americans "literally count on social security to buy food, just to get by" and "many of these beneficiaries, it's their only income. If it were cut or taken away, it would be devastating, devastating for millions of people."

“In the 90 years since Franklin Roosevelt created the social security system, people have always gotten their social security checks. They've gotten them during wartime, during recessions, during a pandemic. No matter what, they got them. But now for the first time ever, that might change. It’d be a calamity for millions of families.” 

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Biden's health update 

During his address, Biden displayed the signs of ageing, a reason that forced him to abandon his re-election campaign last year. He even stumbled over some sentences as he read from a teleprompter, and when he couldn't complete a sentence, he cut himself off with a phrase, "anyways." 

Trump took a jibe at Biden as he posted a short video on social media of one of the rambling anecdotes, without comment.

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