A onetime managing assistant U.S. attorney in Florida faces federal charges after allegedly stealing and concealing confidential materials from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, was indicted on four counts related to the unauthorized possession, alteration, and transmission of government property. According to court documents, she obtained a confidential volume of Smith's report while working in the Southern District of Florida and then altered its file names before emailing the contents to her personal Hotmail and Gmail accounts.
Between September and December of last year, Lineberger disguised the downloads using deceptive file names including "chocolate cake recipe" and "bundt cake recipe," prosecutors allege. The strategy appeared designed to conceal what the files actually contained.
Lineberger was arraigned Wednesday in West Palm Beach. The indictment does not indicate she shared the materials with any third party, but conviction on all charges carries a potential sentence exceeding 20 years in prison.
The case carries particular significance because the documents Lineberger allegedly accessed include portions of a report that a Trump-nominated judge prohibited from public release. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in February that Smith's report could not be disclosed, arguing the special counsel's appointment was constitutionally invalid after she had already dismissed the criminal case against Trump in July 2024.
The Northern District of Florida is handling the prosecution rather than prosecutors from Lineberger's former office in Miami, underscoring potential complications with the case. Lineberger's defense attorney declined to comment on the charges.
Earlier reporting indicated that Smith's team had compiled evidence Trump retained classified materials after leaving office in 2021, including documents connected to his business interests, according to a memo the Justice Department provided to Congress.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "This case reveals how classified material circulates through government channels and raises uncomfortable questions about document security inside Justice Department offices."
Comments