A former federal prosecutor is accused of illegally secreting confidential documents about the Trump administration from special counsel Jack Smith.
62-year-old Carmen Mercedes Lineberger is facing two felony charges for theft of the documents plus other charges in the government investigation.
Lineberger is not being detained and did not have to post any bond for release.
Lineberger allegedly emailed herself the documents and labeled the emails as cake recipes, according to prosecutors. She was working at the Fort Pierce branch of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
The documents were under seal from the Smith investigation into the alleged mishandling of national security records by President Donald Trump and two co-defendants after his first term in office.
She entered a plea of not guilty on Wednesday.
One of the emails was allegedly labeled “chocolate cake recipe,” while another file was allegedly labeled “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf.”
The second volume of Smith’s report had been sealed by federal Judge Aileen Cannon. Lineberger is accused of violating that order and taking steps to conceal her efforts.
She worked at the prosecutor’s office for almost two decades before retiring in December.
Lineberger is not being detained and did not have to post any bond for release.
Federal prosecutors said she could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on one charge, three years for another, and one year for each of the two charges of document theft.
RELATED: District Judge Cannon issues ruling on fate of Trump adversary’s Biden-era special report
Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled that the case should be tossed out because the appointment of Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional.
The Trump administration had argued in Oct. 2024 that the release of the special counsel’s report amounted to election interference.
“Radical Democrats are hell-bent on interfering in the presidential election on behalf of Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” said former campaign spokesman Steven Cheung at the time.
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