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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his wish to see opponents investigated, applying pressure on the DOJ to prosecute ex 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 social media message.

"They impeached twice, and charged me (five times!)" he declared, mentioning the multiple legal proceedings he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Each have subsequently been charged, in cases that numerous experts have said appear to be politically motivated and challenging to win in court.

But the most recent allegations against a presidential opponent, former security advisor John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and former prosecutors say.

"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's case 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 Bolton's Case

Bolton has been criminally indicted on national allegations related to the alleged mishandling of sensitive materials. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal presidential opponent, even to describe him "stunningly uninformed" and unsuitable for the presidency in his memoir.

Experts say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an indictment and the proof compiled against him indicate a potentially more substantial case than the DOJ presented against Comey.

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

During his time as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton put the nation at danger by wrongfully retaining and transmitting sensitive documents to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the materials were marked top secret.

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

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on recently to 18 distinct charges of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

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

Trump previously suggested Bolton belonged in prison, and described him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his experience in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the leader.

"Undoubtedly that the timing of this indictment, when paired with additional cases, has raised doubts about the validity of these allegations, and the reason these charges are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "if the DOJ is capable to demonstrate the facts alleged and demonstrate the material is correctly classified, his conduct may certainly have violated the statute".

Charging such a senior figure 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 involve sensitive materials present difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are filed against both junior and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise encountered charges of wrongfully storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their return, but that matter was ultimately dismissed by a court official and negated by his re-election as president.

A special counsel additionally found that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his period as second-in-command, but did not prosecute him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Trump's classified documents issues, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a senior security role at the Justice Department.

Rigorous procedures govern the management of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the government must prove that Bolton was aware the information he was sending was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone without authorization to obtain it.

"Due to the classified character of the material at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of details about the reasons the prosecution contends things like the personal notes and the other information he communicated by electronic message, and why there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Prosecution

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

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

"The Bolton prosecution and eventually the indictment appeared to have observed the standard procedure including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he said.

Unlike Comey's brief, concise charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" document that "explicitly sets forth the particulars concerning the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably aligned with a long line of cases... where public servants improperly handled and shared sensitive information."