Donald Trump can delete a post, but he cannot delete the record. That is the warning from former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, who notes that one of the president's most damaging Truth Social posts has been scrubbed from his account — yet remains permanently preserved in court files, where it could still come back to haunt him.

Vance, a former U.S. attorney, flagged the removal in her Civil Discourse newsletter, citing commentator Adam Mockler, who took note of the deletion on X. The now-deleted post was a year old, and in it Trump told then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to speed up prosecutions of people he viewed as political enemies. Trump appeared to pressure Bondi to bring cases against James Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Although the post is gone from Truth Social, it has already been entered into legal pleadings, Vance pointed out — including motions arguing that the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey was vindictive and selective. Those filings, she noted, preserve the post, along with any others, permanently. That reflects a basic feature of the court system: once material is entered into a case file, it becomes part of the record, which is generally public and stays available to judges, litigants and reporters regardless of what a platform later removes.

A vindictive prosecution claim hinges on whether the government went after a defendant out of animus. Trump's directive to Bondi, Vance argued, offers precisely the kind of evidence defense attorneys would use to show that prosecutions such as the Comey case were driven by retaliation.

In Vance's view, the timing of the deletion was no coincidence. It came after Democrats pushed the GOP out of power in Congress in the midterm elections, gaining both the House and the Senate. Trump has said he is willing to work with the new majority, but Vance wrote that he is “likely motivated more by fear than sincerity” because he knows accountability is coming. To her, the sudden outreach looks less like sincerity and more like fear from a president who knows what is coming for him.

“Justice is coming, even if it has taken far too long,” Vance wrote.

She also pointed to remarks Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of President Barack Obama, made on Saturday, when the justice said: “I think we’re in a rough patch right now. There’s so many challenges to it [the rule of law] on so many different levels. This is a really critical point in our history. Is it going to end tomorrow? No. It’s going to take some hard work. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to put us back on an even keel. I’m hoping it’s … in my lifetime. But even if it’s not in my lifetime, I genuinely believe it will happen.”

The deleted post may soon find a second life outside court, too. When the new Congress is seated on Jan. 3, Rep. Robert Garcia of California is expected to take over the House Oversight Committee, which holds the power to investigate the administration, including the authority to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony.

Vance also called out Attorney General Todd Blanche — who represented Trump as his personal criminal defense lawyer before joining the administration — accusing him of not understanding his job and calling for his impeachment “as soon as possible.” She referenced Blanche’s comments on Fox, in which he said he is White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s lawyer in response to threats from Garcia, the senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, who said congressional investigations are coming for them. She reminded Blanche: “You’re the people’s lawyer. You’re no longer Donald Trump’s criminal defense lawyer.”

For Vance, the question is not whether accountability arrives, but how Trump and his allies respond when it does.