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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his wish to see opponents investigated, exerting pressure on the DOJ to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's killing our standing and credibility," the president stated recently in a social media post.

"They impeached twice, and charged me (5 times!)" he said, mentioning the multiple legal proceedings he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Both have since been indicted, in situations that many specialists have said appear to be politically motivated and difficult to succeed in court.

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

"I would say, comparing Bolton's case to Comey's is like comparing apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a ex federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

This Specifics of the Case

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

Specialists contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an charge and the evidence compiled against him suggest a possibly stronger case than the DOJ presented against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is simultaneously more severe and seems to have occurred over a considerable period of time," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the nation at risk by improperly retaining and transmitting classified information to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked top secret.

The charge states that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's system where files were stored and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on Friday to eighteen separate counts of mishandling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Case?

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

Trump once implied Bolton should be in prison, and described him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his role, authored a publication about his time in the Trump government 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 counts are being filed at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he continued, "if the DOJ is able to prove the facts alleged and show the information is correctly classified, his conduct may certainly have broken the statute".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking figure for mishandling classified documents is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern sensitive materials pose difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are brought against equally low-level and senior officials, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Examinations into Trump and President

Trump similarly encountered allegations of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that matter was eventually dismissed by a court official and negated by his return as leader.

A independent investigator additionally found that ex-President Joe Biden wrongfully stored sensitive materials from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Trump's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security role at the DOJ.

Rigorous procedures regulate the management of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the material he was sending was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Due to the classified character of the material at question in this matter, we lack a lot of details about the reasons the government believes things like the personal notes and the additional material he shared by electronic message, and why there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the Justice Department initiated this case will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly expressed his wish to see his critics prosecuted and some of those indictments came to fruition.

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

"The Bolton case and eventually the charge seemed to have observed the standard procedure including the rules and norms within the DOJ," he stated.

Unlike Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" document that "explicitly outlines the details concerning the circumstances and situation here," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems fairly aligned with a series of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and transmitted sensitive information."