OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:48 PM – Wednesday, May 20, 2026
A former federal prosecutor in Florida has been indicted for allegedly stealing and concealing sealed Department of Justice (DOJ) records, including a highly sensitive report regarding an investigation into President Donald Trump.
Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, who served as the Managing Assistant United States Attorney for the Fort Pierce branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, was named in an indictment unsealed in federal court.
Lineberger reportedly appeared for her arraignment in West Palm Beach, where she pleaded not guilty to a series of federal charges stemming from the unauthorized electronic transmission of protected government materials.
According to federal prosecutors, Lineberger utilized her official position in late 2025 to access and download restricted documents before attempting to smuggle them out of the agency.
The primary document at the center of the indictment is an unreleased volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report, which detailed the investigation into the alleged hoarding of national defense records at the Mar-a-Lago estate.
While portions of Smith’s findings were made public, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had issued a strict court order permanently sealing “Volume II” — the section specific to the classified files probe — and prohibiting its distribution outside of the Justice Department.
The indictment alleges that Lineberger downloaded this sealed report last December, fully aware that its transmission violated a direct court order and threatened to impair the proper administration of justice.
To evade detection by internal security protocols, Lineberger allegedly engaged in a pattern of digital obfuscation by masking the identities of the stolen files. Investigators reveal that she altered the electronic file name of the sensitive Special Counsel report to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” on her government-issued computer before emailing it to her personal account.
The indictment further details a separate incident from earlier in the year, in which Lineberger compiled internal DOJ electronic communications and an official memorandum containing restricted header and footer markings. She reportedly disguised that file as “chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf” and successfully transmitted it to her personal email address in a similar fashion.
The indictment does not specify Lineberger’s underlying motives or outline what she intended to do with the documents after transferring them to her personal custody.
Since Lineberger was a prominent prosecutor within the Southern District of Florida — the same judicial district where the initial Mar-a-Lago documents case was litigated — the matter is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christie S. Utt from the Northern District of Florida, who was assigned as a special prosecutor to avoid any conflict of interest.
The criminal case is being jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the DOJ Office of the Inspector General.
If convicted on all counts, the veteran attorney faces severe statutory penalties under federal sentencing guidelines. The most serious charge, the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Additionally, Lineberger faces up to three years of imprisonment for the concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records, alongside up to one year for each count of theft of government property. Her defense counsel has not yet issued a formal public statement regarding the allegations.
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