A U.S. federal judge in Florida on Monday (Jul. 15) dismissed the criminal case against former president Donald Trump, which accused him of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving office.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to her position by Trump in 2020, said that special counsel Jack Smith who filed the charges against Trump was illegally appointed by the Justice Department, CNN, AP News, and Reuters reported.

As a result, Smith did not have the authority to make the case, Cannon ruled.

The Justice Department is planning to appeal the decision.

Not surprised by case's dismissal: Joe Biden

The ruling by Cannon was made on the first day of the Republican National Convention, which officially saw Trump becoming the 2024 Republican nominee for president. It also came two days after Trump survived a failed assassination attempt.

A spokesperson for the special counsel's office, Peter Carr, said that Cannon's ruling "deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel".

President Joe Biden on Monday (Jul. 15) in an interview with NBC News said that he wasn't surprised by the dismissal of the case.

However, the 81-year-old president said, "the basis upon which the case was thrown out I find specious".

Trump on his Truth Social's post (a social media platform) said that the case's dismissal "should be just the first step", urging for dismissal for all of his criminal charges.

Background

In June last year, Trump was indicted on seven federal criminal charges in relation to hundreds of confidential government records found at his Florida property after he left the White House.

About 11,000 government records were found on Trump's property in Florida. Among these, 18 were labelled "top secret", 54 were labelled "secret", and 31 were labelled "confidential".

The indictment came shortly after he was convicted in his New York hush money trial in May.

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a case of payment to an adult film star.

In the same month, he was also found liable for the sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil lawsuit.

Maintains his innocence

Trump has maintained his innocence throughout his legal woes.

He called all criminal charges against him "witch hunts" and a "political attack".

"The Democrat Justice Department coordinated all of these political attacks, which are an election interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s political opponent, me," said Trump on Truth Social.

"Let us come together to end all weaponisation of our justice system, and make America great again!"

Top image via Donald J. Trump/Facebook.