Prosecutor indicted – A federal prosecutor tied to the investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith was indicted on May 20 on allegations she smuggled secret Department of Justice documents, changed their file names, and emailed copies to her personal account—an explosive turn t
By the time Carmen Mercedes Lineberger appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach on May 20. the accusations were already stark and specific: prosecutors allege she removed secret office documents from the investigation surrounding former President Donald Trump and then tried to disguise what she had taken.
The indictment charges Lineberger, 62, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, with four felony counts. If convicted. she faces up to 20 years in prison for “destruction. alteration. or falsification of records in federal investigations. ” along with additional charges tied to “concealment. removal. or mutilation of public records. ” and “theft of government property.”.
According to the allegations, Lineberger emailed secret documents labeled “INTERNAL DOJ USE ONLY” to her personal email. Prosecutors say she also changed the file titles, replacing the original identifiers with innocuous names: “Chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf” and “Bundt_Cake_recipe.pdf.”
The documents she allegedly took were copies of Volume II of Jack Smith’s findings in the classified documents investigation into Trump. The summary portion of those findings has not been made public. and a federal judge permanently barred its release earlier this year. Volume I, however, was released publicly.
Lineberger worked as a managing assistant U.S. attorney in the Fort Pierce office of the Southern District of Florida. She was arraigned in West Palm Beach on May 20 and entered a not guilty plea. A special prosecutor from the Northern District of Florida will handle the case.
The charge landed amid renewed scrutiny of the wider investigation. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the indictment and posted on social media that “This FBI will not hesitate to bring to account those who violated the trust of the American public in an investigation that should’ve never been brought to begin with.”.
The sequence prosecutors describe is tight: secret documents marked “INTERNAL DOJ USE ONLY” were copied. emailed to a personal account. and then retitled as recipe files. Volume II is at the center of the case—despite a judge already stopping the release of its summary earlier this year—making the alleged conduct land not just as a breach. but as a direct attempt to move sensitive material beyond the public record.
For now, Lineberger denies the allegations. The next step will be the Northern District of Florida special prosecutor building the case around the alleged emails, the altered file titles, and the claim that the material was taken from the confidential scope of Jack Smith’s findings.
Carmen Mercedes Lineberger Jack Smith probe Trump classified documents DOJ secret documents FBI Kash Patel Southern District of Florida Northern District of Florida special prosecutor federal indictment May 20