WASHINGTON (AP) — A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents despite a judge's order that it was to remain sealed, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
Carmen Lineberger, who worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and managed its Fort Pierce branch, faces charges including
theft of government property and concealment of government records. She pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in West Palm Beach. Her attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Prosecutors allege that while serving as a Justice Department prosecutor last year, Lineberger sent to her personal email account a copy of the report that special counsel Jack Smith and his team had prepared recapping their investigation into Trump's retention of top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
The indictment alleges that Lineberger sought to conceal her actions by altering the original file name of the report to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” before saving the re-titled file on her government computer and emailing it to her personal email account.
The indictment does not explain why Lineberger may have wanted to send the report, which prosecutors say she had access to in her professional capacity as a prosecutor, to her own email account.
The volume detailing Smith's findings in a criminal investigation once seen as posing significant legal peril to Trump has never been seen by the public. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon backed arguments from Trump's lawyers that it would be unfairly prejudicial to release the report after Smith abandoned the case in the aftermath of Trump's 2024 election victory.
Lineberger worked in the same judicial district where Smith's documents case against Trump was filed. That case accused Trump of illegally retaining at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach dozens of classified records from his first term in office and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
