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Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to see critics probed, applying pressure on the DOJ 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 trustworthiness," the leader stated recently in a social media post.

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

Each have since been indicted, in situations that many experts have stated appear to be politically motivated and difficult to win in court.

But the latest charges against a Trump critic, ex national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and former prosecutors assert.

"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.

The Specifics of Bolton's Legal Situation

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

Specialists say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an indictment and the evidence gathered against him indicate a potentially more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department presented against James.

"These actions that's being claimed is simultaneously more severe and seems to have taken place 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 following his 2019 White House departure, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the nation at danger by improperly retaining and sending sensitive documents to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled top secret.

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

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on Friday to eighteen distinct counts of improperly handling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Strong Case?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the heels of charges against Comey - has renewed concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

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

"There's no question that the schedule of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has prompted questions about the strength of these charges, and why these counts are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he continued, "should the Justice Department is capable to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the material is correctly classified, his behavior may very well have violated the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for mishandling 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 classified information pose challenges to try, but they can and are filed against equally low-level and senior officials, from time to time," she explained.

Similarities to Examinations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise encountered allegations of wrongfully storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was eventually dismissed by a federal judge and voided by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel additionally found that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his period as second-in-command, but did not criminally charge him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Trump's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security position at the Justice Department.

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

"Due to the sensitive nature of the information at question in this case, we don't have a great deal of particulars about the reasons the prosecution believes things like the diary entries and the other information he shared by electronic message, and why there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

The process by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump openly posted his wish to see his critics prosecuted and several of those indictments came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton case and eventually the indictment seemed to have observed the standard process including the rules and norms within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, concise indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the particulars concerning the facts and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

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