A former federal prosecutor in Florida has been indicted on charges that she secretly emailed herself sealed Justice Department records tied to former special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents investigation into President Donald Trump, allegedly disguising the files as dessert recipes to avoid detection.Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, of Port St. Lucie, was charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment with theft of government property, destruction or falsification of records in a federal investigation, and concealment or removal of public records. She pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on Wednesday in federal court in West Palm Beach.According to prosecutors, Lineberger was serving as the managing assistant U.S. attorney in the Fort Pierce branch of the Southern District of Florida when she accessed sensitive DOJ materials and transmitted them to personal email accounts without authorization.
The indictment alleges she renamed confidential files with misleading titles, including “chocolate cake recipe” and “bundt cake recipe,” before emailing them to herself.
Among the records allegedly transmitted was “Volume II Report,” the sealed final report prepared by Smith regarding Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
