Main: Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein). Left inset: Carmen Mercedes Lineberger (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida). Right inset: Judge Aileen Cannon (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida).
The DOJ which Donald Trump controls has asked a judge who threw out the president's Mar-a-Lago classified documents prosecution to "consider further action" after a former government lawyer was charged with stealing ex-special counsel Jack Smith's never publicly disclosed report on the probe.
The Monday notice for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon began by pointing out that the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, John Heekin, submitted the filing, rather than the recused U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
That's because Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, formerly worked as a managing assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District and "in separate instances in late 2025" allegedly "altered the electronic file names of government records" to email them to her personal accounts — despite the Trump-appointed judge's order blocking the release of Volume II.
When the DOJ announced the indictment in May, it alleged that Lineberger changed file names to "chocolate cake recipe" and "bundt cake recipe" in an ill-fated attempt to "conceal[] the true identity of an electronic copy of the Volume II Report."
The government has now told Cannon that the alleged crimes are also a violation of the judge's court order, an injunction that has been in place since the start of 2025 and Trump's second term as president.
"This Notice is provided to disclose this alleged violation of the Order by a now-former Department of Justice employee to enable this Honorable Court to consider further action and sanction as deemed appropriate," the filing said.
Although it's unclear what Cannon might do, there's reason to believe she could act.
In February, when the judge permanently blocked then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and her successors from releasing Volume II, she wrote that her July 2024 dismissal of the Espionage Act prosecution on the ground that Smith was unlawfully appointed meant all of the special counsel's acts were invalid.
Smith was careful in his public testimony not to address any findings about Trump's allegedly willful retention of classified documents and obstruction of their return because he didn't want to violate Cannon's order. Still, she construed the creation of Volume II itself as a "concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order" at minimum, "if not an outright violation of it" through a "brazen stratagem."
Cannon did not order the destruction of Volume II, however, so appeals to bring it to light continue on at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Arguments are tentatively scheduled for the week of Sept. 28.
Lineberger has pleaded not guilty to theft, record alteration, and concealment charges.