WASHINGTON — In a striking development, a former federal prosecutor from Florida has been accused of violating a court order by sending a confidential special counsel report to her personal email. This report stemmed from an investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents, as revealed by an indictment made public on Wednesday.
Carmen Lineberger, who was part of the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida and led the Fort Pierce division, is now facing charges such as theft of government property and hiding official records.
During a court session in West Palm Beach, she entered a plea of not guilty.
Efforts to reach her legal representative for comments have so far been unsuccessful.
According to prosecutors, Lineberger, while serving as a Justice Department attorney last year, allegedly emailed herself a copy of the report compiled by special counsel Jack Smith and his team. This report detailed their investigation into the storage of highly sensitive documents by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence 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.
US 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.