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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his wish to see opponents investigated, exerting influence on the DOJ to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay any longer, it's damaging our reputation and credibility," the leader stated recently in a Truth Social message.

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

Each have subsequently been charged, in cases that many specialists have said seem to be driven by politics and difficult to win in court.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, former security advisor John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and former prosecutors assert.

"I would say, comparing Bolton's case to Comey's is like equating two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a ex federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

The Details of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the alleged improper handling of sensitive materials. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, going so far as to describe him "stunningly uninformed" and unsuitable for the presidency in his memoir.

Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the methods used to secure an indictment and the proof compiled against him indicate a possibly stronger case than the Justice Department brought against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is both more severe and seems to have occurred over a significant duration," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors claimed that Bolton placed the country at risk by wrongfully keeping and transmitting sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the documents were marked top secret.

The charge alleges that at a certain time a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where files were kept and transmitted an apparent threat to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Friday to 18 distinct charges of mishandling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Strong Case?

The schedule of his charge - arriving on the heels of charges against Comey - has revived concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump previously suggested Bolton should be in prison, and called 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.

"There's no question that the schedule of this charge, when combined with others, has prompted questions about the strength of these charges, and why these counts are being brought at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "should the DOJ is able to demonstrate the facts alleged and show the material is properly classified, his behavior may very well have violated the statute".

Charging such a senior official for mishandling classified documents is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that involve sensitive materials pose difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are brought against equally junior and high-level personnel, from time to time," she said.

Parallels to Examinations into Trump and Biden

Trump similarly faced allegations of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their recovery, but that case was ultimately thrown out by a court official and voided by his re-election as president.

A special counsel additionally determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully stored classified documents from his period as second-in-command, but failed to criminally charge him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Trump's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security position at the DOJ.

Strict procedures govern the management of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the information he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Because of the classified nature of the information at question in this case, we don't have a lot of details about the reasons the prosecution believes elements like the personal notes and the other material he shared by electronic message, and why there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Legal Action

The procedure by which the Justice Department brought this case will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly expressed his desire to see his critics prosecuted and several of those indictments materialized.

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

"This Bolton prosecution and ultimately the indictment appeared to have observed the standard procedure including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, concise indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" filing that "clearly outlines the particulars involving the circumstances and situation here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems reasonably consistent with a long line of cases... where government officials improperly handled and transmitted sensitive information."