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Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see opponents investigated, applying pressure on the Justice Department to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's killing our reputation and trustworthiness," the president stated recently in a social media post.

"I was impeached me, and indicted me (5 times!)" he declared, mentioning the four criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have subsequently been charged, in cases that numerous experts have stated seem to be driven by politics and difficult to win in court.

But the most recent charges against a Trump critic, former national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and former prosecutors assert.

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

The Details of Bolton's Legal Situation

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations pertaining to the alleged mishandling of sensitive materials. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken presidential opponent, going so far as to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for the presidency in his memoir.

Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the proof gathered against him suggest a possibly more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department brought against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being claimed is both more serious 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.

Throughout his time as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton put the country at danger by improperly retaining and transmitting classified information to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the documents were marked top secret.

The indictment states that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where files were kept and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the largest 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 mishandling sensitive materials.

Retribution or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his indictment - coming on the heels of charges against James - has renewed questions about political pressure on the legal system.

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

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has raised questions about the validity of these charges, and the reason these charges are being filed now," stated 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 properly classified, his conduct may very well have broken the law".

Charging such a senior figure for improperly handling classified documents is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

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

Parallels to Examinations into Former President and Biden

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

A independent investigator additionally found that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his time as second-in-command, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Biden's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security role at the DOJ.

Rigorous protocols govern the handling of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the prosecution must prove that Bolton knew the material he was sending was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Because of the classified character of the material at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of particulars about why the prosecution believes things like the personal notes and the other material he communicated by email, and why there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be closely examined, following Trump publicly posted his desire to see his critics prosecuted and some of those indictments came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton case and eventually the charge appeared to have observed the regular process including the rules and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a more "traditional" document that "clearly outlines the particulars concerning the circumstances and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably aligned with a long line of precedents... where public servants mishandled and shared classified material."