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Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his wish to see critics probed, exerting influence on the DOJ to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our standing and trustworthiness," the leader stated last month in a social media post.

"I was impeached twice, and indicted me (five times!)" he said, mentioning the multiple legal proceedings he encountered after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have since been charged, in cases that many experts have said appear to be politically motivated and challenging to succeed in legal proceedings.

But the latest allegations against a presidential opponent, former national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors say.

"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's case to Comey's is like comparing apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

This Details of the Case

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations pertaining to the alleged mishandling of classified information. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken presidential opponent, going so far as to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for the presidency in his book.

Experts say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the methods used to obtain an charge and the proof gathered against him indicate a potentially more substantial case than the Justice Department presented against James.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is both more serious 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 following his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors alleged that Bolton placed the nation at danger by improperly keeping and sending classified information to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the materials were marked top secret.

The charge alleges that at a certain time a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where documents were stored and transmitted an seeming warning to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on recently to eighteen separate charges of mishandling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his indictment - coming on the heels of charges against James - has renewed concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton belonged in prison, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was highly critical of the leader.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this charge, when combined with others, has raised questions about the strength of these charges, and the reason these counts are being filed now," stated Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he continued, "should the DOJ is capable to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the material is properly classified, his behavior may very well have violated the statute".

Charging such a high-ranking official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern classified information present difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are brought against both junior and high-level officials, from occasionally," she said.

Similarities to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly faced allegations of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge and voided by his re-election as president.

A special counsel also found that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his period as vice president, but did not prosecute him.

Bolton's situation shares characteristics to Biden's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security position at the Justice Department.

Rigorous procedures govern the management of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the classified character of the information at question in this matter, we don't have a great deal of details about why the government contends things like the diary entries and the additional information he shared by email, and why there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Legal Action

The process by which the Justice Department brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly posted his desire to see his political opponents charged and some of those charges materialized.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's case, prosecutors seem to have adhered to standard procedure.

"The Bolton case and ultimately the indictment seemed to have followed the standard process including the rules and norms within the DOJ," he said.

Unlike Comey's brief, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" document that "clearly outlines the particulars involving the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems fairly aligned with a long line of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and transmitted classified material."