Politics

The Justice Department accidentally released former special counsel Jack Smith's sealed report on President Donald Trump to lawyers for the former prosecutor accused of stealing it.

Volume II includes Jack Smith's evidence in his case to prove Trump mishandled classified documents after leaving office — the report Trump has fought to keep secret. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge who dismissed the underlying case, has barred the Justice Department from releasing it outside the department.

Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, a former Fort Pierce federal prosecutor, is charged with emailing herself a copy of Volume II disguised as a cake recipe. On Thursday, the Justice Department did damage control after mistakenly sending a copy to her defense lawyers.

"Defense counsel voluntarily ceased review of the discovery material, affirmed they had not examined the documents in question, deleted all discovery materials already downloaded to their server, and cooperated with the Government's efforts to recover the flash drives that same day," the notice added.