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Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see opponents investigated, applying influence on the Justice Department to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's damaging our standing and credibility," the president stated recently in a Truth Social post.

"They impeached me, and indicted me (five times!)" he declared, referencing the four criminal cases he encountered after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Both have since been charged, in situations that many experts have said seem to be driven by politics and challenging to win in court.

But the latest charges against a Trump critic, former security advisor John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and ex-prosecutors assert.

"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's charges to Comey's is like comparing two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a ex 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 supposed mishandling of sensitive materials. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal presidential opponent, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for the presidency in his book.

Specialists contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to secure an charge and the evidence compiled against him suggest a potentially stronger legal argument than the Justice Department presented against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is both more severe and seems to have taken place over a considerable period of time," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Throughout his time as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors claimed that Bolton placed the country at risk by wrongfully retaining and sending sensitive documents to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the documents were marked top secret.

The charge states that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where documents were stored and sent 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 recently to eighteen separate charges of mishandling classified information.

Retribution or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the tails of charges against James - has revived concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once suggested Bolton should be in jail, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was highly critical of the president.

"There's no question that the timing of this charge, when combined with additional cases, has raised doubts about the strength of these allegations, and why these counts are being brought now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the Justice Department is capable to prove the allegations stated and show the information is correctly designated, his behavior may certainly have violated the law".

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

"Situations that concern sensitive materials pose difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are brought against equally low-level and high-level officials, from time to time," she said.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump likewise encountered allegations of wrongfully storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and hindering their return, but that case was ultimately thrown out by a court official and voided by his re-election as leader.

A independent investigator additionally found that ex-President Joe Biden improperly maintained classified documents from his period as vice president, but failed to criminally charge him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's sensitive materials matters, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security position at the Justice Department.

Strict protocols govern the handling of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Due to the classified character of the material at question in this matter, we don't have a great deal of particulars about the reasons the prosecution believes things like the personal notes and the additional information he shared by email, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Legal Action

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

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

"The Bolton prosecution and eventually the charge appeared to have observed the regular procedure including the regulations and standards within the DOJ," he said.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page charge, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the details concerning the facts and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems reasonably aligned with a series of cases... where public servants mishandled and transmitted sensitive information."