A former managing assistant U.S. attorney who previously worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into President Donald Trump has been charged with stealing confidential documents related to investigations, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Wednesday.
“This afternoon, 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 wrote in a post on X.
He identified the individual as Carmen Lineberger, saying that she had “allegedly emailed the confidential material to her own personal email, disguising them as dessert recipes to conceal them from record searches.”
Lineberger has been charged with four offenses, the Department of Justice said in a press release on May 20.
They include two counts of theft of government money or property with a value of less than $1,000. Each of these counts carries up to a one-year sentence in federal prison if Lineberger is convicted.
Another count is related to concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records. The count carries up to a three-year prison sentence if she’s convicted.
She’s also been charged with destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, which carries the steepest penalty: up to 20 years in federal prison.
“This FBI will not hesitate to bring to account those who violated the trust of the American public in an investigation that should’ve never been brought to begin with,” Patel wrote on X.
This story is developing and will be updated with additional information.














