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

"We can't delay further, it's killing our reputation and credibility," the leader stated last month in a social media message.

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

Both have subsequently been charged, in situations that many specialists have said seem to be driven by politics and difficult to win in legal proceedings.

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

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

The Specifics of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the supposed mishandling of classified information. After departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken presidential opponent, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for the presidency in his memoir.

Experts say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the methods used to secure an indictment and the proof gathered against him suggest a possibly more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department presented against James.

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

During his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and following his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton placed the country at risk by wrongfully keeping and sending classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled highly classified.

The charge states that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where files were stored and sent an apparent 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 distinct counts of improperly handling sensitive materials.

Retribution or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his charge - coming on the heels of charges against Comey - has revived concerns about external influence on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration that was sharply negative of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the timing of this charge, when combined with additional cases, has prompted questions about the strength of these allegations, and the reason these charges are being filed at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "should the DOJ is able to demonstrate the facts alleged and demonstrate the information is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have broken the statute".

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

"Situations that involve classified information present difficulties to try, but they can and are brought against both low-level and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Similarities to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump likewise encountered allegations of improperly keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that matter was ultimately dismissed by a court official and voided by his re-election as leader.

A independent investigator also found that ex-President Joe Biden wrongfully stored classified documents from his period as vice president, but did not criminally charge him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Trump's sensitive materials matters, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security role at the Justice Department.

Strict procedures govern the management of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must prove that Bolton knew the information he was sending was restricted, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone without authorization to obtain it.

"Because of the sensitive nature of the information at question in this matter, we lack a lot of particulars about why the prosecution believes things like the diary entries and the other information he communicated by email, and the reason there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

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

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

"The Bolton case and eventually the charge appeared to have observed the standard process including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he said.

Unlike Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" document that "explicitly sets forth the particulars involving the circumstances and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems fairly consistent with a series of precedents... where public servants mishandled and transmitted sensitive information."