An ex-lawyer for the Department of Justice has been indicted for allegedly stealing part of special prosecutor Jack Smith’s failed prosecutorial report on President Donald Trump.
The federal government confirmed that it is Carmen Lineberger, who formerly was managing assistant U.S. attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida, who is facing an indictment with two counts of theft of government property, destruction of those records, and concealment or mutilation of public records.
Lineberger, 62, allegedly stole a copy of part of Jack Smith’s report. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon earlier ordered that that report be concealed.
Lineberger allegedly sent it to her own personal email with the subject lines “chocolate cake recipe” and “bundt cake recipe.”
According to the U.S. attorney’s office in Florida the Port St. Lucie woman is accused of, in separate instances in 2025, allegedly altering “the electronic file names of government records that she received in her official capacity as the MAUSA in order to conceal her unauthorized electronic transmission of those records to personal email accounts belonging to her without being detected.”
The government charged, “The altered government records included a document compiled by the defendant consisting of portions of internal DOJ electronic messages and an internal DOJ memorandum, and a DOJ report related to a criminal prosecution in the SDFL that had been court-ordered to remain under seal and prohibited from distribution or disclosure outside of DOJ.”
The indictment charges the defendant concealed her actions by re-labeling the files.
“As to the DOJ report, the indictment further alleges the defendant acted knowing that her transmission of the record outside DOJ directly violated the court order and impaired the proper administration of the underlying criminal prosecution,” the government charges.
🚨 This afternoon, a former managing assistant U.S. Attorney who supported Jack Smith’s politicized investigation of President Trump has been charged with stealing the confidential investigation documents.
Carmen Lineberger allegedly emailed the confidential material to her…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) May 20, 2026
According to the indictment, Lineberger renamed the report “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” before attaching it to an email from her DOJ account to her personal Gmail account. https://t.co/PrMCriYkWi
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) May 20, 2026
The federal government confirmed if convicted, Lineberger could be jailed for up to 20 years on one count, up to three years on another.
“The case is being jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christie S. Utt from the Northern District of Florida, who was assigned as a special prosecutor to avoid conflicts of interest with the investigation and prosecution of this matter,” the government reported.
She has pleaded not guilty.
A report at the Gateway Pundit described how Cannon permanently blocked the release of this work from Jack Smith, concerning his claims against Trump involving classified documents. It was one of two major lawfare cases orchestrated by Smith against Trump, both of which eventually collapsed and were dismissed.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, slammed Jack Smith for compiling the Trump report after she dismissed the case, the report said.
“Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing [the classified documents report] using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” the judge said.
“To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” the judge said. “While it is true that former special counsels have released final reports at the conclusion of their work, it appears they have done so either after electing not to bring charges at all or after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial. The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt.”
Cannon has noted the report at issue contains information that Trump’s lawyers argued was protected under attorney-client privilege.
