A former federal prosecutor was charged this week with emailing herself a report on the Justice Division’s investigation into President Trump {that a} decide had saved beneath lock and key.
Carmen Lineberger was indicted Tuesday on two counts of theft of presidency property, plus counts of concealing and eradicating a public document and altering a public document. She was arraigned Wednesday and pleaded not responsible.
The costs deal with a report penned by former Justice Division particular counsel Jack Smith, whose crew charged Mr. Trump with attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss and allegedly mishandling labeled paperwork. The election-related elements of the report had been launched in mid-January 2025, however per week later, U.S. District Decide Aileen Cannon blocked former Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland “or his successor(s)” from releasing the portion on labeled paperwork, often called “Quantity II.”
A newly unsealed indictment accuses Lineberger — beforehand the managing assistant U.S. lawyer within the Southern District of Florida — of downloading a replica of Quantity II final December and saving it beneath the file identify “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf.” She then allegedly emailed it from her Justice Division account to her private account.
Lineberger was additionally accused of downloading parts of an inside Justice Division memorandum and emailing it to herself in September 2025. These data had been allegedly saved beneath the file identify “Chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf.”
The indictment doesn’t specify what, if something, Lineberger allegedly deliberate to do with the paperwork.
Lineberger’s lawyer declined to remark.
The Quantity II report on the heart of Tuesday’s indictment was compiled after Smith charged Mr. Trump in 2023 with retaining delicate authorities paperwork from his first time period and storing them at Mar-a-Lago. The then-former president and two workers had been additionally charged with conspiracy to impede a federal investigation. Mr. Trump has lengthy denied wrongdoing and solid the investigation — which included an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago — as politically motivated.
Cannon dismissed the indictment in 2024 on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed. Then, sooner or later after Mr. Trump was sworn in for his second time period, Cannon mentioned the Justice Division can not launch or share Smith’s report on the probe, on the grounds that it might unfairly prejudice the 2 Trump staffers whose legal circumstances remained open.
Cannon didn’t forestall the Justice Division from releasing Quantity I of Smith’s report, which targeted on Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in workplace after dropping in 2020. The costs in opposition to Mr. Trump hit a roadblock in mid-2024 after the Supreme Court docket dominated the president has immunity for official acts, and the case was dismissed after Mr. Trump received again the presidency. Smith argued in Quantity I that Mr. Trump would have been convicted if not for his return to workplace.
