Ex-US prosecutor charged for sending herself Trump probe report disguised as cake recipe

A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into US President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents despite a judge’s order that it remain sealed, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday.

Carmen Lineberger, who worked in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and managed its Fort Pierce branch, faces charges including theft of government property and concealment of government records.

She pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in West Palm Beach. Her lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Prosecutors allege that while serving as a Justice Department prosecutor last December, Lineberger sent a copy of the report that special counsel Jack Smith and his team had prepared, recapping their investigation into Trump’s retention of top secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, to her personal email account.

The indictment alleges that Lineberger sought to conceal her actions by altering the original file name of the report to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” before saving the retitled file on her government computer and emailing it to her personal email account.

Several months earlier, according to the indictment, Lineberger created on her computer a document consisting of portions of internal Justice Department messages, along with portions of an internal memorandum with header and footer markings that indicated it was for official use only.