BREAKING: Former Federal Prosecutor Indicted Over Jack Smith Report: What She’s Accused Of Is Stunning

A former federal prosecutor in South Florida has been indicted for allegedly stealing a sealed copy of Jack Smith’s Volume II report on President Trump’s classified documents investigation and emailing it to her personal Gmail account.

The file name she allegedly used to disguise it: “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf.”

Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, who served as the managing assistant U.S. attorney in the Fort Pierce branch of the Southern District of Florida, faces a four-count indictment that includes theft of government property and concealment of government records.

She pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in West Palm Beach and was released without having to post bond.

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. https://t.co/PrMCriYkWi

— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) May 20, 2026

ABC News also reported the indictment development:

New: DOJ charges prosecutor with attempting to steal report on Trump's classified docs case https://t.co/KxB0IUsdwA w/ @KFaulders @PCCharalambous

— Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) May 20, 2026

The allegations are laid out in detail.

Prosecutors say Lineberger, while still serving as a DOJ prosecutor last December, emailed the sealed report from her government account to her personal email on Dec. 1, 2025.

That report, Volume II of the Jack Smith investigation, was ordered sealed by Judge Aileen Cannon and has never been seen by the public.

The Associated Press laid out the core allegations from the indictment.

A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into President Donald Trump’s classified documents case despite a judge’s order that it remain sealed, according to an indictment made public 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.

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Prosecutors allege that while serving as a Justice Department prosecutor last December, Lineberger sent 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, to her personal email account.

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.

Several months earlier, according to the indictment, Lineberger created on her computer a document consisting of portions of internal Justice Department messages, along with portions of an internal memorandum with header and footer markings indicating it was for official use only. Prosecutors say she sent the material to her personal email address via an attached file titled “chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf.”

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.

So the “Bundt_Cake_Recipe” was the sealed Jack Smith report, and an earlier batch of internal DOJ messages traveled under the name “chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf.”

The indictment does not explain why Lineberger allegedly wanted the sealed report on her personal account.

CNBC added details on the charges and Cannon order.

A former federal prosecutor has been charged with stealing the sealed volume of the report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith about the criminal case against President Donald Trump over his retention of classified documents.

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Carmen Mercedes Lineberger is accused in a four-count indictment of saving the sealed portion of Smith’s report on her government-issued computer under the file name “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf.”

Lineberger, who was a managing Assistant U.S. Attorney at the time, allegedly emailed the report from her DOJ email account to her personal Gmail account on Dec. 1, 2025.

At the time of the alleged conduct, the 62-year-old Lineberger was managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida, according to the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Lineberger is charged with theft of government property and counts related to the removal and altering of public records in the indictment.

Judge Aileen Cannon on Jan. 21, 2025 issued an order prohibiting the DOJ, as well as its officers and employees, from “releasing, sharing, or transmitting” Volume II of Smith’s report, which was filed in the court.

Lineberger appeared in court in Fort Pierce on Wednesday and was released without having to post bond.

Judge Cannon had sided with President Trump’s legal team, which argued that releasing the report would be unfairly prejudicial after Smith abandoned the case following Trump’s 2024 election victory.

Cannon permanently blocked the report’s release in February.

The investigation into Lineberger is being handled jointly by the FBI and the DOJ Office of Inspector General.

To avoid conflicts of interest, a special prosecutor from outside the Southern District of Florida was assigned to the case.

Gateway Pundit highlighted the DOJ language and special-prosecutor detail.

Carmen Lineberger, the former Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida, was indicted on two counts of theft of government money or property valued at less than $1,000, destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, and concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records.

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In separate instances in late 2025, the indictment alleges that Lineberger altered electronic file names of government records she received in her official capacity in order to conceal unauthorized electronic transmission of those records to personal email accounts belonging to her.

The altered records allegedly included portions of internal DOJ electronic messages, an internal DOJ memorandum, and a DOJ report related to a criminal prosecution in the Southern District of Florida that had been court-ordered to remain under seal and prohibited from distribution or disclosure outside DOJ.

As alleged in the indictment, Lineberger concealed her actions by saving electronic copies of government records under the misleading file names “chocolate cake recipe” and “bundt cake recipe” before electronically transmitting those records to her personal email accounts.

The case is being jointly investigated by the FBI and the DOJ Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christie S. Utt from the Northern District of Florida was assigned as a special prosecutor to avoid conflicts of interest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christie S. Utt from the Northern District of Florida was assigned as the special prosecutor to handle the case.

Lineberger’s defense attorney has not publicly commented.

Think about this one for a moment.

President Trump was dragged through years of classified documents lawfare by the same DOJ apparatus that employed Carmen Lineberger.

Jack Smith’s team built an entire prosecution around the idea that mishandling sensitive government materials was a grave national security threat.

And now a former DOJ prosecutor from the very same Southern District of Florida stands accused of stealing sealed records from that investigation, renaming them after baked goods, and shipping them to her personal Gmail.

She is innocent until proven guilty, and she has entered a not-guilty plea.

The irony is hard to miss: a former DOJ prosecutor now stands accused of mishandling records tied to the same Jack Smith operation used against President Trump.