Prosecutor Is Charged With Smuggling Out Jack Smith’s Secret Mar-a-Lago Report Against Trump, Disguising Contraband as ‘Bundt Cake Recipe’

The charging of one of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s deputies, Carmen Lineberger, for smuggling out the contents of the prosecutor’s sealed final report on the Mar-a-Lago case against President Trump marks an escalation in the battle between the president and Mr. Smith.The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, reports that Ms. Lineberger, a former employee of the Department of Justice, “allegedly emailed the confidential material to her own personal email, disguising them as dessert recipes to conceal them from record searches.” Ms. Lineberger allegedly forwarded the contraband to her personal email disguised as “chocolate cake recipe” and “Bundt cake recipe” recipes. She has pleaded “not guilty” to all four counts.Ms. Lineberger, the indictment alleges, was the managing assistant United States attorney at Fort Pierce, Florida, when she received a copy of the report by email last year and sent it and other internal DOJ messages — the contents are not specified in the indictment — to her personal accounts. The indictment does not accuse Ms. Lineberger of sharing the information with anyone — only forwarding it to herself. The most serious charge she faces — destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations —is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Ms. Lineberger’s lawyer, Tama Kudman, did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment. The accusation is that by changing the names of the file names to “bundt cake recipe ” and “chocolate cake recipe” Ms. Lineberger altered the document. She is also charged with two counts of theft of government property and a count of concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records.Documents seized during the FBI search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, 2022. Department of Justice via APThe indictment was handed up in the Southern District of Florida — the same jurisdiction where Mr. Smith charged Mr. Trump with dozens of violations of the 1917 Espionage Act, as well as crimes of conspiracy and obstruction. The case, though, was dismissed in 2024 after Judge Eileen Cannon ruled that Mr. Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.Ms. Lineberger’s case is being handled by prosecutors from the Northern District of Florida because Lineberger’s ties to the United States Attorney’s Office for Southern Florida could create a conflict of interest. The indictment is signed by a special attorney appointed for the case, Christie Utt — as well as the acting United Attorney General, Todd Blanche. Judge Cannon also “permanently blocked” the release of Mr. Smith’s final report on that case, which was completed just before Mr. Trump swore the oath for a second time. Federal regulations mandate that a final report be completed for each prosecution overseen by the special counsel. Mr. Smith’s final report on his January 6 case against Mr. Trump maintained that a conviction was forthcoming “but for” the results of the 2024 election.Judge Cannon has multiple concerns, though, about the publication of the Mar-a-Lago dossier. She reckoned that it would injure the due process rights of not only Mr. Trump but also his co-defendants, the valet Waltine Nauta and the property manager Carlos De Oliveira. She also accused Mr. Smith of a “brazen stratagem” when he continued to work on the report even after his disqualification. The document remains locked on her orders. Two liberal groups, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia and American, have appealed that ruling to the 11th United States Appeals Circuit, which has overruled Judge Cannon before. Judge Cannon did not accede to the request by Mr. Trump, and the Department of Justice to destroy the report — what the government calls “constitutional expungement.” The former attorney general, Pam Bondi, joined the case to push the report to the “dustbin of history.”Mr. Smith has grown more outspoken of late in his criticism of the president he twice failed to convict in court. At a dinner earlier this month at the Cosmos Club he declared that Mr. Trump has “corrupted” the DOJ.

Prosecutor Is Charged With Smuggling Out Jack Smith’s Secret Mar-a-Lago Report Against Trump, Disguising Contraband as ‘Bundt Cake Recipe’

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