Former Prosecutor Indicted for Sharing Sealed Trump Investigation Report

On Wednesday, federal authorities indicted Carmen Lineberger, a former federal prosecutor in Florida. She allegedly emailed a special counsel report about President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents to her personal email. This act violated a judicial order requiring the report to remain sealed.

Lineberger, who worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, faces charges such as theft of government property and concealing government records. During a court appearance in West Palm Beach, she pleaded not guilty. Her lawyer hasn’t yet responded to requests for comment.

The indictment claims that Lineberger, in December, while working for the Justice Department, sent the report prepared by special counsel Jack Smith to her personal email. She allegedly altered the file name to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” to disguise it and then emailed it with the same deceptive subject line.

Earlier, Lineberger reportedly created a document containing internal Justice Department messages. She marked this as “for official use only” and emailed it to herself under the guise of “Chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf.” The indictment does not reveal her motives for these actions.

The public has never seen the details of Smith’s report, which was once considered a significant threat to Trump. A U.S. District Judge sided with Trump’s lawyers, stopping the report’s release, arguing it would be prejudicial. This decision came after Smith dropped the case following Trump’s 2024 election victory. Lineberger was based in the same district as Smith’s legal action against Trump.

The charges against Trump involved illegally keeping classified records at the Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing their retrieval by the government. FBI Director Kash Patel remarked that the FBI will hold accountable those who breach public trust, especially when involved in investigations that were controversial from the start.