A feeble Department of Justice prosecutor is facing prison charges after emailing herself a sealed Biden-era investigative characterize touching on Donald Trump and attempting to veil the paperwork as cake recipes, federal authorities acknowledged on Wednesday.
Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, who labored as a managing assistant US authorized genuine in Florida, is facing two counts of theft of authorities money or property apart from to charges connected to her alleged alteration of the paperwork, per the indictment.
In early 2025, Lineberger acquired a reproduction of an inner characterize “connected to a pending federal prison investigation”, which she would later send from her justice division inbox to her personal email in December 2025, per the indictment. The characterize become once filed in the US district court docket for the southern district of Florida, where she become once employed.
Lineberger allegedly sought to veil evidence of the characterize by changing its title to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” sooner than saving it to her authorities-issued pc, prosecutors acknowledged.
The indictment didn’t supply extra little print about the personality of the characterize, but it did signify the characterize as being blocked from public birth, per an elaborate from US district own Aileen M Cannon.
Cannon, who Trump has previously lauded as a “mannequin of what a own wants to be”, barred the feeble justice division particular counsel Jack Smith from discussing or sharing any findings from his investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of White Condominium paperwork at the dwell of his first time length.
Smith also led an investigation into Trump’s alleged field to hinder the 2020 election. Each and each conditions had been dropped after Trump secured a 2d time length. Justice division policy protects sitting presidents from prison prosecution.
In a January court docket filing, federal prosecutors condemned Smith’s characterize. “The illicit made out of an illegal investigation and prosecution belongs in the dustbin of history,” they acknowledged.
Within the intervening time, advocacy teams agree with sought to the US the characterize thru court docket appeals.
It’s a ways unclear why Lineberger could well furthermore just agree with sent the characterize to herself. She faces a most sentence of 25 years in jail if convicted of the costs.
