'Lame Duck' Trump’s 'day is coming' —and he knows it: legal expert

U.S. President Donald Trump with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Joyce Vance, a former US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, said President Donald Trump and his cronies are running out of the building with as much money as they can before Trump’s lame duck status puts an end to their raiding party.

As part of the government’s settlement with the IRS, President Donald Trump created what “Left Hook” podcaster Wajahat Ali called a $1.8 billion “terrorist slush fund that will pay off violent insurrectionists” with taxpayer money.

Earlier today, the Justice Department, headed by Trump’s personal attorney, Todd Blanche, provided Trump and his family a “forever pardon” for past and present tax crimes by submitting a settlement agreement that “releases, waives, acquits, and forever discharges each of the plaintiffs” connected with certain crimes against U.S. democracy.

But Vance, who is a law professor at the University of Alabama, said Trump and his people can try to insulate themselves from the law, but there will be no mercy for Trump when he’s out of power.

“Donald Trump is the lamest of lame ducks, and so … they're playing for whatever they can get now as fast as they can,” said Vance. “But Trump has sold us this myth that he's invincible and that he can never be held accountable — and that's just wrong.”

“Let me tell you, there are folks who will go flooding back into the Justice Department, people who have been fired, or people who have left, who will go flooding back in, and they will have fealty to the rule of law, and if there is evidence that suggests that anyone — up to and including a former president — should be prosecuted they will prosecute. … [B]ut Donald Trump's day is coming.”

Ali agreed that Trump is greedy but also terrified that his time is already winding down as furious voters take to the polls in November.

“It's gonna get bad but I think there's more of us than there are of them and we just have to be louder and … that's why they're sandbagging,” said Ali. “This projection of strength is actually them hiding their fragility and weakness. That's what I think is happening in real time, which is why they're going for everything.”

Whether the settlement agreement will withstand legal scrutiny remains uncertain. Legal experts have raised questions about the validity of such broad pardons and immunity claims, particularly given the ongoing investigations into Trump's financial dealings and potential violations of law.

Meanwhile, watchdog organizations and Democratic lawmakers have called for independent audits of the $1.8 billion fund to ensure it is not being misused. As the midterm elections approach, the question of accountability looms large—not just for Trump, but for the entire apparatus that has enabled what critics describe as an unprecedented assault on institutional norms and the rule of law

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