DOJ charges prosecutor with attempting to steal report on Trump's classified docs case
The Department of Justice on Wednesday charged a longtime federal prosecutor with attempting to steal a sealed report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith on President Donald Trump's alleged retention of classified documents.
A grand jury indicted Carmen Mercedes Lineberger -- a managing assistant U.S. attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida -- with four felony counts for allegedly attempting to steal the report, which has been sealed from public view for more than a year.
Prosecutors allege that Lineberger downloaded a copy of the sealed report onto her work computer and sent it to her personal email account in January of 2025.
According to the indictment, Lineberger renamed the report "Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf" before attaching it to an email from her DOJ account to her personal Gmail account.
The report has remained secret since January 2025, when it was prepared by Smith in the final days before Trump's inauguration to summarize Trump's alleged crimes. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the report be kept secret after a push from Trump's lawyers to seal the records, and the Department of Justice under the Trump administration has since fought to ensure the report is never released.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 counts of retaining classified information, obstruction of justice, and false statements after Smith alleged he not only kept a trove of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office in 2021, but also actively impeded law enforcement from retrieving them. After months of litigation, Judge Cannon dismissed the case on the grounds that Smith was not properly appointed special counsel.
Earlier this year, Cannon issued an additional order permanently restricting the department from releasing the report. Two legal groups are in the midst of appealing her orders arguing disclosure of the report remains in the public's interest.
It's not immediately clear based on court papers unsealed Wednesday if prosecutors will argue that Lineberger intended to leak the contents of the report.
She made her initial appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach Wednesday and entered a not guilty plea to the indictment. An attorney listed as representing Lineberger declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
