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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his desire to see critics investigated, applying pressure on the DOJ to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our standing and credibility," the leader wrote last month in a Truth Social post.

"I was impeached me, and indicted me (5 times!)" he declared, referencing the four criminal cases he encountered after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Both have since been indicted, in situations that numerous specialists have stated appear to be driven by politics and difficult to win in court.

But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors assert.

"I would say, comparing Bolton's case to James' is like equating apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The Specifics of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations related to the supposed improper handling of sensitive materials. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken Trump critic, going so far as to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for the presidency in his memoir.

Specialists say that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the methods used to secure an charge and the proof gathered against him indicate a potentially more substantial legal argument than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is simultaneously more severe and appears to have taken place over a significant period of time," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House exit, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the country at danger by wrongfully keeping and sending sensitive documents to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled highly classified.

The charge states that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's system where documents were stored and sent an seeming warning to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a hearing on Friday to eighteen distinct counts of mishandling classified information.

Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?

The timing of his charge - coming on the tails of charges against James - has renewed concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump previously suggested Bolton belonged in jail, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, wrote a publication about his time in the Trump government that was highly critical of the leader.

"There's no question that the timing of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has raised questions about the validity of these charges, and why these counts are being brought at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the DOJ is capable to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the information is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have broken the law".

Charging such a high-ranking figure for improperly handling sensitive materials is "rare" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern classified information pose difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are brought against both junior and senior personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President

Trump likewise encountered allegations of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their return, but that case was ultimately thrown out by a federal judge and negated by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel additionally determined that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his time as vice president, but did not prosecute him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Biden's classified documents issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior security position at the DOJ.

Strict protocols regulate the handling of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the government must prove that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Due to the classified character of the material at issue in this case, we don't have a lot of details about why the government contends things like the personal notes and the additional information he communicated by email, and the reason there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Legal Action

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly expressed his wish to see his political opponents prosecuted and some of those indictments came to fruition.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's case, authorities seem to have adhered to protocol.

"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge appeared to have followed the regular process including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he said.

Unlike Comey's short, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" document that "explicitly outlines the details involving the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems fairly aligned with a long line of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and shared sensitive information."