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Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his wish to see opponents probed, applying pressure on the DOJ to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's killing our standing and credibility," the president wrote last month in a Truth Social post.

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

Both have since been charged, in cases that numerous specialists have stated seem to be driven by politics and difficult to succeed in court.

But the latest allegations against a presidential opponent, former security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors assert.

"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's case to James' is like equating two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

This Specifics of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges related to the alleged mishandling of sensitive materials. After departing the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal Trump critic, even to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for office in his memoir.

Specialists say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the proof gathered against him suggest a potentially more substantial case than the Justice Department brought against James.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is both more severe and seems to have taken place over a significant period of time," said 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 exit, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the country at risk by wrongfully keeping and sending classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked top secret.

The indictment alleges that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where files were stored and sent 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 eighteen distinct charges of improperly handling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

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

Trump previously implied Bolton belonged in prison, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration that was sharply negative of the president.

"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 why these charges are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the DOJ is able to demonstrate the facts stated and demonstrate the information is correctly classified, his conduct may certainly have violated the law".

Charging such a high-ranking figure for improperly handling classified documents is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that involve classified information pose challenges to try, but they may and are brought against both junior and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President

Trump similarly faced allegations of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and negated by his return as president.

A independent investigator also determined that ex-President Joe Biden improperly maintained classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Biden's sensitive materials issues, said Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security role at the Justice Department.

Strict protocols govern the handling of sensitive materials. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Because of the sensitive nature of the information at question in this case, we lack a lot of particulars about the reasons the prosecution contends things like the diary entries and the other material he shared by email, and why there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Legal Action

The procedure by which the Justice Department initiated this legal action will be closely examined, after Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his critics charged and several of those charges came to fruition.

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

"The Bolton case and ultimately the indictment seemed to have observed the regular process including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

Unlike Comey's brief, concise indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" document that "explicitly sets forth the details concerning the facts and situation here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears fairly consistent with a long line of precedents... where government officials mishandled and transmitted sensitive information."