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

"We cannot postpone further, it's killing our reputation and credibility," the president stated recently in a Truth Social post.

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

Each have since been indicted, in cases that many specialists have stated seem to be politically motivated and difficult to win in court.

But the latest allegations against a presidential opponent, former national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and ex-prosecutors assert.

"I would say, contrasting Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating two different things," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The Specifics of the 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 outspoken Trump critic, going so far as to describe him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for the presidency in his book.

Experts say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an charge and the proof compiled against him suggest a potentially stronger case than the DOJ presented against Comey.

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

During his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton put the country at danger by wrongfully keeping and transmitting sensitive documents to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked highly classified.

The charge alleges that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where files were stored and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Friday to eighteen separate counts of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his charge - coming on the tails of charges against James - has renewed questions about political pressure on the legal system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the president.

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

However, he continued, "should the Justice Department is able to prove the facts stated and demonstrate the material is properly designated, his conduct may very well have broken the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking figure for mishandling 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 sensitive materials present challenges to try, but they can and are brought against equally junior and senior officials, from time to time," she said.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump likewise encountered allegations of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their return, but that case was eventually thrown out by a court official and negated by his return as president.

A independent investigator additionally determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained sensitive materials from his period as second-in-command, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Trump's classified documents matters, said Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security position at the DOJ.

Strict protocols regulate the management of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the prosecution must prove that Bolton knew the material he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Due to the classified character of the information at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of particulars about why the government believes elements like the personal notes and the other material he communicated by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Legal Action

The process by which the DOJ brought this case will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly posted his desire to see his political opponents prosecuted and several of those charges came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton case and ultimately the charge appeared to have observed the regular procedure including the rules and norms within the Department of Justice," he said.

Unlike Comey's short, concise charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" document that "explicitly outlines the details concerning the facts and circumstances here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems reasonably aligned with a long line of precedents... where government officials improperly handled and shared sensitive information."