The Trump administration altered a Social Security Administration Inspector General report to conceal how badly DOGE layoffs had damaged service to beneficiaries. The published version of the December 2025 report claimed average call wait times had dropped to under 10 minutes. But The Washington Post obtained the file's version history, revealing that an earlier draft reported the actual 'total wait time' for callers to reach an SSA employee averaged 46 minutes to over two hours.
The key finding about real wait times was deleted from the draft before publication. SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano — a Trump loyalist — then cited the falsified report on Fox News as evidence that DOGE's layoffs and 'staffing realignments' were improving agency efficiency. The altered report was used to justify the very cuts that caused the service collapse it was hiding.
The manipulation came after Trump fired 17 inspectors general on January 24, 2025; Social Security Works says the SSA's IG was among them. Its president Nancy Altman stated: 'The Trump administration is undermining oversight at every turn.' The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warned that DOGE activities 'risk SSA operations and security of personal data.' Inspectors general are supposed to be independent watchdogs — 'the American people's eyes and ears in these agencies.' Instead, the IG report was turned into a propaganda tool to justify the damage it was supposed to document.