Finally Somebody Might Pay a Price – HotAir

Of all the lawfare waged against President Trump, the “Special Counsel” Jack Smith’s classified documents investigation was perhaps the most obviously egregious. 

All of the investigations and indictments were outrageous, but Jack Smith’s stood out among the others because the US Department of Justice appointed an illegitimate Special Counsel (who was eventually disqualified), sent FBI agents without probable cause to rifle through underwear drawers, staged photos to make President Trump look as if he were throwing highly classified documents around his house with abandon, and now we know had lawyers without scruples willing to break any law to destroy and imprison Trump. 

🚨 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.

Carmen Lineberger allegedly emailed the confidential material to her…

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) May 20, 2026

🚨 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.  

Carmen Lineberger allegedly emailed the confidential material to her own personal email, disguising them as dessert recipes to conceal them from record searches. 

Lineberger is charged with four felony counts in the indictment.

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.

All of Trump’s enemies are unscrupulous. Alvin Bragg got convictions for a crime that nobody could quite specify with charges that would never be brought under any other circumstances, and Letitia James was a snake who looted her constituents to go on romantic trips as she plotted with an almost certainly perjurious accomplice. 

In a just world, all of them would be facing 25 years to life, but it seems like no prosecutor or judge will even let a felon with 30 arrests get tossed into jail, so we can only dream of that. They are all too powerful and protected to face justice, at least it seems so. 

Now that is rich. . .pun intended! Prosecutor working on case charging Trump with illegally retaining government records. . . illegally removes and retains government records! pic.twitter.com/Qpsq9801dZ

— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 20, 2026

But perhaps assistant US attorney Carmen Lineberger will face some measure of justice. She worked on the Jack Smith investigation, and, in further service of harming President Trump, she tried to steal documents under judicial seal by emailing them to herself under anodyne-sounding names, trying to hide them as recipes. 

Forget for the moment how ham-handed the criminal attempt was; she committed this crime well after the case evaporated, and long after these documents were sealed. 

Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, of Port St. Lucie, has been indicted in federal court for two counts of theft of government money or property, valued less than $1,000.00; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; and concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the charges.

The indictment alleges at the time of the offenses the defendant served as the Managing Assistant United States Attorney (MAUSA) of the Fort Pierce branch of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. In separate instances in late-2025, the defendant altered the electronic file names of government records that she received in her official capacity as the MAUSA in order to conceal her unauthorized electronic transmission of those records to personal email accounts belonging to her without being detected.  The altered government records included a document compiled by the defendant consisting of portions of internal DOJ electronic messages and an internal DOJ memorandum, and a DOJ report related to a criminal prosecution in the SDFL that had been court-ordered to remain under seal and prohibited from distribution or disclosure outside of DOJ.

She did this only a few months ago, when she had no conceivable reason to need access to those documents. She clearly had malicious intent, and by extension, shows the quality of the investigation itself, and the ethical standards to which its participants were held. 

Here’s the indictment:https://t.co/vQjis5zllX

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) May 20, 2026

Most importantly, though, is that she is facing serious time, which suggests she has an incentive to spill the beans on any other wrongdoing. 

If convicted, Lineberger faces up to twenty years’ imprisonment for destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, three years’ imprisonment for concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records, and up to one year imprisonment on each count of theft of government property valued at less than $1,000.

The case is being jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christie S. Utt from the Northern District of Florida, who was assigned as a special prosecutor to avoid conflicts of interest with the investigation and prosecution of this matter.

It’s a lot to ask to hold out hope that Lineberger will lead investigators to others higher up the chain, but then again, perhaps Karma will give us a break this time and at least one of the conspiracies that were concocted to prevent Trump’s reelection will be exposed, and some of the worse malefactors will face some consequences. 

Hope springs eternal, even for cynics like me. 

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