A Florida federal prosecutor named Carmen Mercedes Lineberger has been indicted for allegedly emailing herself documents from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump, while hiding them under the names of cake recipes. The indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
According to Mediaite, Lineberger received copies of Smith’s “Volume II Report” on January 16, 2025. The report covers the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The report had been sealed by Judge Aileen Cannon under a court order.
Despite that order, Lineberger allegedly took portions of internal DOJ messages and saved them on her government-issued computer under the file name “Chocolate cake recipe.pdf.” She then emailed that file from her DOJ email account to her personal Hotmail account, with the subject line “chocolate cake recipe.”
Lineberger faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge
That was not the only alleged incident. Lineberger is also accused of downloading a copy of the full report to her government computer, renaming it “Bundt_ Cake_Recipe.pdf,” and saving it to her desktop. She then emailed that file to her personal Gmail account in two separate messages on December 1, 2025.
The indictment lists four felony counts against her: two counts of theft of government property valued at less than $1,000, one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation, and one count of concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records.
If convicted on all counts, she could face up to 20 years for the records falsification charge, up to three years for the public records concealment charge, and up to one year on each theft count. The case has drawn widespread attention at a time when Trump continues to dominate headlines, with figures like Jeff Bezos publicly praising Trump’s second-term conduct.
A former Department of Justice prosecutor has been charged with stealing a secret report on a criminal investigation into Donald Trump and emailing it to herself under the guise of a cake recipe. https://t.co/5TqQmNjmTI
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 21, 2026
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the indictment on social media, saying “a former managing assistant U.S. Attorney who supported Jack Smith’s politicized investigation of President Trump has been charged with stealing the confidential investigation documents.”
Patel also said Lineberger allegedly emailed the confidential material to her personal email while disguising it as dessert recipes to hide it from record searches. Lineberger made her first court appearance on Wednesday at the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she entered a not guilty plea.
Her attorney declined to comment when contacted by reporters. Based on court papers unsealed Wednesday, it is not yet clear whether prosecutors will argue that she intended to leak the contents of the report.
It also remains unclear what her motive was for taking the documents, and the case is expected to continue developing in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Trump’s orbit remains busy on other fronts, with Dana White touring the newly renovated Rose Garden recently making news as well.
