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Former President Donald Trump has consistently shown his wish to see critics probed, exerting influence on the Justice Department to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's killing our reputation and trustworthiness," the leader stated recently in a Truth Social message.

"I was impeached twice, and charged me (five times!)" he said, referencing the four criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have subsequently been charged, in situations that numerous specialists have stated seem to be politically motivated and difficult to win in court.

But the most recent allegations against a presidential opponent, ex security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors say.

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

The Details of Bolton's Legal Situation

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the alleged improper handling of classified information. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken Trump critic, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for the presidency in his book.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the proof compiled against him suggest a possibly more substantial case than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is both more serious and appears to have occurred over a significant period of time," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Throughout his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the nation at danger by wrongfully retaining and sending classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked highly classified.

The indictment states that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where files were kept and transmitted an apparent warning to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on Friday to eighteen distinct counts of improperly handling sensitive materials.

Retribution or a Substantial Case?

The timing of his charge - coming on the tails of charges against Comey - has renewed questions about external influence on the justice system.

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in prison, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his role, authored a book about his time in the Trump government that was highly critical of the president.

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when combined with additional cases, has prompted questions about the validity of these charges, and the reason these charges are being filed now," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he continued, "should the Justice Department is capable to demonstrate the facts stated and demonstrate the material is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have violated the law".

Charging such a high-ranking figure for mishandling classified documents is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern sensitive materials pose challenges to prosecute, but they may and are filed against equally low-level and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise faced charges of wrongfully storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was ultimately thrown out by a court official and voided by his re-election as president.

A special counsel additionally found that former President Joe Biden improperly stored sensitive materials from his period as second-in-command, but failed to criminally charge him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's classified documents issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior security role at the Justice Department.

Rigorous procedures regulate the management of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the government must demonstrate that Bolton knew the information he was sending was classified, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the classified character of the information at question in this matter, we lack a lot of details about the reasons the prosecution believes elements like the diary entries and the additional information he communicated by email, and why there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump publicly posted his wish to see his political opponents charged and some of those indictments came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge appeared to have observed the regular process including the regulations and norms within the Department of Justice," he stated.

Unlike Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "conventional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the details involving the circumstances and circumstances here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears fairly aligned with a series of precedents... where public servants mishandled and shared sensitive information."