Trump also had pointed out that the FBI already had confessed that it destroyed exculpatory evidence during its stunning, armed 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Trump's filings with the court suggested a political motivation in the case. His team, in fact, had been working with federal officials to address disputes over what Trump was entitled to have as papers from his administration and what the government wanted returned when the FBI launched its SWAT-style assault on Trump's home.

Thomas said Smith was not a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney.

"Even if the special counsel has a valid office, questions remain as to whether the attorney general filled that office in compliance with the Appointments Clause," Thomas charged. "For example, it must be determined whether the special counsel is a principal or inferior officer. If the former, his appointment is invalid because the special counsel was not nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, as principal officers must be."

Bret Baier of Fox News spoke with Trump by phone, and indicated Trump said: "I am thrilled that a judge had the courage and wisdom to do this. This has big, big implications … This is a big, big deal. It only makes this convention more positive."

Trump, at the Republican National Convention this week, also confirmed he's going to announce his pick for vice president Monday.

Trump's lawyers said since Smith's appointment violated the Constitution that left Smith essentially a "private citizen" without any authority whatsoever. That position had been supported by former attorneys general under George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

Thomas had written "None of the statutes cited by the attorney general appears to create an office for the special counsel, and especially not with the clarity typical of past statutes used for that purpose," Thomas said. Congress gave the attorney general the power to appoint "additional officers … as he deems necessary" — but, only for the Bureau of Prisons.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey wrote in a commentary only days ago, "The Constitution's Appointments Clause limits how executive offices can be created and how they may be filled. Before the Revolution, the king could both create and fill offices. The Constitution eliminated that power by giving Congress the authority to create offices or to authorize their creation in specific instances, and requiring the advice and consent of the Senate before the president could fill certain offices. It empowers the president to nominate and appoint 'officers of the United States' not specifically provided for in the Constitution only with the advice and consent of the Senate, and only to offices 'which shall be established by Law.' The Appointments Clause does allow for the appointment of officers by the president, a court or the head of a department—such as the attorney general—but, again, only when such appointment is permitted 'by Law.'"

He pointed out Smith's appointment lacked any authority under the "Law."

The ruling identifies the push for the "lawfare" against Trump at the highest levels of the Department of Justice, a department Trump has accused Joe Biden of weaponizing against him.

The case also had confirmed Trump's charges of a two-tiered justice system in America. Another "special counsel" found that Joe Biden had knowingly and willingly taken classified documents to which he was not entitled and kept them. He used them with a ghost writer who was working for him. And he stored them in his home, his private office and even in a relatively unsecured garage.

But the counsel, Robert Hur, recommended against charges against the octegenarian, citing his "diminished" mental abilities.

His decision sent Democrats supporting Biden for another term in office into a rage.