Former Jack Smith Prosecutor Charged With Mishandling Government Documents

A former U.S. attorney faces charges in Florida for allegedly stealing records related to the Biden administration’s probe of President Donald Trump over his own handling of sensitive documents.

Carmen Lineberger illegally kept Department of Justice (DOJ) materials related to former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Florida case against Trump for herself, a grand jury alleged Tuesday. Lineberger’s team, led by Smith, alleged in the probe that Trump illegally kept sensitive national security documents after his first presidential term.

An attorney for Lineberger did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. She is charged with theft of government money or property, destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations and concealment, removal or mutilation of public records. The defendant faces a combined 24 years in prison if convicted on all charges, the DOJ said.

Lineberger’s unlawful behavior included sending a copy of Smith’s report on the Florida Trump case to her personal email in September under the file name “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf,” the DOJ alleged. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had previously ordered attorneys in the case not to share the report outside official channels. Lineberger also illegally saved an internal DOJ memo and internal messages in one document titled “Chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf,” according to the indictment.

Smith dropped the document-related Trump case and his other case alleging 2020 election interference after Trump won reelection in 2024. Judge Cannon ruled months before Smith’s decision that the Biden administration appointing him as special counsel was unconstitutional. The ruling sided with a Trump defense motion arguing the appointment needed congressional approval.