Florida prosecutor charged with emailing herself the most sought-after documents from Jack Smith’s Trump investigation

Key Points:

• Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, a former managing assistant US attorney in Florida, has been charged with theft of government property for emailing herself confidential Justice Department records related to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump, disguising them as dessert recipes.
• Prosecutors allege Lineberger sent portions of an internal DOJ memorandum and the final “Volume II Report” on the Trump investigation to her personal email accounts in 2025, renaming files with dessert-themed subjects like “chocolate cake recipe” and “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf.”
• The Volume II Report, detailing findings on Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, was barred from public release by District Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that releasing such findings was “not customary” after the case dismissal and had prohibited DOJ officials from sharing the report externally.
• Lineberger was not part of the special counsel team but worked in a supervisory role at the US Attorney’s Office, which supported aspects of Smith’s investigation prior to the appointment of the special counsel and the Mar-a-Lago search.
• If convicted, Lineberger faces up to 20 years in prison, amid ongoing legal disputes over the validity and public release of Smith’s investigation materials by Trump’s legal team and associates.