A former federal prosecutor has been indicted after allegedly taking copies of a still-unreleased volume of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into President Donald Trump — and allegedly disguising the files with names like “Chocolate_Cake_Recipe.pdf.”
The case is raising fresh questions surrounding the highly controversial legal effort against Trump and how officials involved in the process handled sensitive government materials.
Federal prosecutors charged former Justice Department official Carmen Lineberger, 62, with four counts tied to allegedly stealing and concealing government records. During a court appearance Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, Lineberger pleaded not guilty and was released on her own recognizance.
According to the indictment, Lineberger — formerly the managing assistant U.S. attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida — received a restricted copy of a volume of Smith’s report last year and allegedly forwarded it, along with internal Justice Department communications, to personal Hotmail and Gmail accounts.
Prosecutors claim she attempted to conceal the transfer by changing file names to appear harmless, including “Chocolate_Cake_Recipe.pdf” and “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf.”
The indictment, however, does not allege why Lineberger moved the files to personal accounts, nor does it accuse her of leaking the materials publicly. Court records also do not specify what other internal DOJ records may have been transferred alongside the Smith report.
If convicted on all charges — including obstruction of justice, concealing government records, and two misdemeanor theft counts — Lineberger faces a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison, though actual sentences in federal cases are often significantly shorter under sentencing guidelines.
The report at the center of the controversy remains largely hidden from public view.
The volume reportedly focuses on Smith’s investigation into classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office. That investigation became one of Smith’s two major prosecutions against Trump during the 2024 election cycle.
Smith, appointed as special counsel in late 2022, led the federal government’s aggressive legal campaign against Trump. Beyond the Mar-a-Lago documents case, he also spearheaded the federal election interference prosecution tied to Trump’s challenges to the 2020 election results.
Trump repeatedly blasted Smith as politically motivated and accused the Biden-era Justice Department of weaponizing federal law enforcement against him. His supporters argued that prosecutors were applying legal standards differently to Trump than to political allies and opponents.
The classified documents case eventually suffered major setbacks after Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated constitutional requirements, throwing the future of the prosecution into uncertainty. Cannon also barred public release of the report volume involved in the current Lineberger case.
Now, the strange allegations involving hidden “cake recipe” file names are creating another unexpected chapter in the long-running legal and political saga surrounding Smith’s investigations of Trump.
