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Sealed report, personal email
The U.S. Department of Justice charged former federal prosecutor Carmen Mercedes Lineberger with stealing the sealed volume of a report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith about the defunct criminal case against President Donald Trump over his retention of classified government documents after leaving office in January 2021.
“Carmen Mercedes Lineberger is accused in a four-count indictment unsealed Wednesday of saving the sealed portion of Smith's report”
CNBC said Lineberger was accused in a four-count indictment unsealed Wednesday of saving the sealed portion of Smith's report on her government computer under the file name "Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf" and then emailing the report from her DOJ email account to her personal Gmail account on Dec. 1, 2025.
The indictment described Lineberger, 62, as managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fort Pierce, Fla., and said she was charged with theft of government property and counts related to the removal and altering of public records.
CNBC also reported that 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.
Not guilty in West Palm
Politico reported that Lineberger, 62, entered a not guilty plea to four charges related to stealing and concealing government records in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday and was released on her own recognizance.
Politico said the indictment returned Tuesday alleged Lineberger sought to cover her tracks by using the file names "Chocolate_ Cake_Recipe.pdf" and "Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf" for the internal government records she moved to her personal accounts.
PBS, citing an Associated Press report, said Lineberger pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in West Palm Beach and that her attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
PBS further said prosecutors alleged 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 to her personal email account, and that the indictment alleged she altered the original file name to "Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf" before saving the re-titled file on her government computer and emailing it to her personal email account.
Why the case stalled
The charges sit against a backdrop of Judge Aileen Cannon’s rulings in the underlying Trump prosecutions, with CNBC reporting that Cannon in July 2024 dismissed the DOJ's criminal case against Trump and ruled Smith's appointment violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Cannon ruled that Smith's appointment to prosecute cases involving Trump violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution”
CNBC said Smith then appealed that dismissal, but the DOJ dropped that effort after Trump was elected in November 2024 to a second, non-consecutive term in the White House because of a department policy that bars federal prosecutions of sitting presidents.
In a separate thread about the special counsel’s work, BBC reported that Special Counsel Jack Smith wrote that the evidence was 'sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,' and that the report said the only reason the case did not proceed was that the Constitution prohibits prosecuting a sitting president.
BBC also reported that Trump responded by saying that Smith was 'disturbed' and that his findings were 'false,' as the sealed Volume II report remained under court seal while the classified-documents portion was still barred from release.
