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Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his wish to see critics probed, exerting pressure on the DOJ to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's damaging our standing and trustworthiness," the leader wrote recently in a social media message.

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

Each have since been indicted, in cases that many experts have stated appear to be driven by politics and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, former national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors say.

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

This Details of the Case

Bolton has been criminally indicted on national allegations pertaining to the alleged improper handling of classified information. After departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, going so far as to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for office in his book.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the evidence compiled against him indicate a potentially more substantial case than the DOJ presented against James.

"These actions that's being alleged is both more severe and appears to have occurred over a significant duration," 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 exit, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the country at danger by improperly retaining and transmitting sensitive documents to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled top secret.

The charge states that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where documents were kept and sent an seeming threat to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

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

Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?

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

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in jail, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the leader.

"Undoubtedly that the timing of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has prompted doubts about the strength of these charges, and why these counts are being filed at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the DOJ is able to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the information is properly classified, his conduct may very well have violated the law".

Charging such a senior official for mishandling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern classified information pose difficulties to try, but they can and are filed against both junior and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she said.

Similarities to Investigations into Trump and Biden

Trump similarly faced charges of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge and negated by his return as leader.

A independent investigator additionally determined that ex-President Joe Biden improperly stored sensitive materials from his period as second-in-command, but did not prosecute him.

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

Rigorous protocols govern the management of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Due to the sensitive nature of the material at issue in this matter, we don't have a great deal of details about why the government believes elements like the diary entries and the other material he shared by electronic message, and why there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Legal Action

The procedure by which the Justice Department initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump publicly expressed his desire to see his political opponents charged and some of those indictments materialized.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's situation, prosecutors appear to have adhered to protocol.

"This Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge seemed to have observed the standard process including the regulations and norms within the DOJ," he said.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" filing that "explicitly outlines the details involving the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems reasonably consistent with a series of precedents... where government officials mishandled and shared classified material."