A FLORIDA judge, Aileen Cannon, has dismissed the criminal case charges against former United States President Donald Trump.

The judge on Monday, July 15, concluded that the special counsel who brought the prosecution was illegally appointed.

“Former President Trump’s motion to dismiss indictment based on the unlawful appointment and funding of special counsel Jack Smith is granted. The superseding indictment is dismissed because special counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” the judge ruled.

The judge issued her ruling after Trump’s lawyers requested a partial stop of hearings to allow for a review of a Supreme Court position that a former president receives extensive immunity from prosecution.

Trump’s lawyers contended that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed in violation of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, and that his office was inappropriately funded by the Justice Department.

This ruling serves as a significant victory for Trump, who had been accused of compromising national security by keeping top-secret documents after leaving the White House.

This is coming after Trump escaped an assassination attempt. He was shot in his right ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realised then what was happening. God bless America!” he said after the incident.

The ICIR reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the suspected shooter after he was killed at the scene.

The shooter was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

He was killed at the scene by a Secret Service sniper after firing several shots with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.