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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his desire to see opponents probed, exerting pressure on the DOJ to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the leader stated last month in a Truth Social post.

"I was impeached twice, and indicted me (five times!)" he said, referencing the four criminal cases he encountered after departing the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Both have subsequently been charged, in situations that numerous experts have stated seem to be driven by politics and challenging to succeed in legal proceedings.

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

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

This Details of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations pertaining to the supposed improper handling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken Trump critic, even to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for the presidency in his memoir.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an indictment and the evidence gathered against him suggest a potentially stronger legal argument than the DOJ presented against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being claimed is both more serious and appears to have taken place over a significant duration," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House exit, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the country at danger by wrongfully retaining and transmitting classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were marked highly classified.

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

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

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his charge - arriving on the tails of charges against Comey - has renewed questions about political pressure on the justice system.

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

"There's no question that the schedule of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has raised doubts about the strength of these charges, and the reason these charges are being brought at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the Justice Department is able to demonstrate the allegations stated and demonstrate the material is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have violated the statute".

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

"Cases that concern classified information present challenges to prosecute, but they can and are filed against both low-level and senior officials, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President

Trump likewise encountered allegations of wrongfully storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was eventually thrown out by a federal judge and negated by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel additionally determined that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his period as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

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

Strict protocols regulate the management of classified documents. To win a conviction, the government must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to obtain it.

"Due to the sensitive nature of the material at question in this matter, we don't have a great deal of particulars about why the prosecution contends elements like the personal notes and the additional material he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Legal Action

The process by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his critics prosecuted and several of those charges materialized.

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

"This Bolton case and eventually the indictment appeared to have observed the regular procedure including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

Unlike Comey's short, concise charge, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "explicitly outlines the particulars involving the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems reasonably aligned with a long line of cases... where public servants mishandled and shared classified material."