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Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see opponents investigated, applying pressure on the DOJ to prosecute ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the president stated recently in a social media message.

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

Both have subsequently been charged, in situations that numerous experts have stated appear to be driven by politics and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

But the latest allegations against a Trump critic, former security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors assert.

"I would say, comparing Bolton's case to James' is like comparing two different things," said Mark Lesko, a ex acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The Details of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations pertaining to the alleged improper handling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal Trump critic, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for the presidency in his book.

Specialists contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the proof compiled against him indicate a possibly stronger case than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is both more severe and appears to have occurred over a considerable period of time," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Throughout his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and following his 2019 White House exit, prosecutors alleged that Bolton placed the nation at risk by wrongfully retaining and transmitting sensitive documents to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the materials were labeled top secret.

The charge alleges that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where files were stored and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on recently to eighteen separate charges of improperly handling classified information.

Retribution or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the heels of charges against James - has renewed questions about external influence on the legal system.

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, authored a publication about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the leader.

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when combined with additional cases, has prompted doubts about the validity of these allegations, and the reason these charges are being filed now," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the DOJ is capable to demonstrate the facts alleged and demonstrate the information is properly classified, his behavior may very well have broken the statute".

Charging such a senior official for mishandling sensitive materials is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that concern classified information present difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are brought against both low-level and high-level officials, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Examinations into Former President and President

Trump similarly faced allegations of wrongfully storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and hindering their recovery, but that matter was ultimately dismissed by a court official and negated by his re-election as president.

A special counsel also determined that ex-President Joe Biden improperly maintained classified documents from his period as second-in-command, but did not prosecute him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Biden's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top security role at the DOJ.

Strict protocols govern the handling of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must demonstrate that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Because of the sensitive character of the information at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of details about why the prosecution believes things like the diary entries and the additional material he communicated by email, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

The process by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly posted his wish to see his political opponents prosecuted and several of those charges came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton case and ultimately the charge appeared to have followed the regular procedure including the rules and norms within the Department of Justice," he stated.

Unlike Comey's brief, concise charge, Bolton's was a more "conventional" filing that "clearly sets forth the particulars concerning the circumstances and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It appears reasonably consistent with a long line of cases... where public servants improperly handled and shared sensitive information."