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

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's damaging our standing and credibility," the leader stated last month in a Truth Social message.

"I was impeached me, and charged me (5 times!)" he said, referencing the four criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

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

But the latest allegations against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and former prosecutors assert.

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

The Details of the Case

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges pertaining to the alleged mishandling of classified information. After departing the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal Trump critic, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for office in his book.

Specialists say that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an charge and the evidence compiled against him suggest a potentially more substantial legal argument than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is both more severe and seems to have taken place over a considerable period of time," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Throughout his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the nation at risk by wrongfully keeping and sending sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled highly classified.

The indictment states that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's system where documents were kept and sent an apparent warning to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on Friday to eighteen distinct charges of mishandling classified information.

Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?

The timing of his indictment - coming on the tails of charges against James - has revived questions about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his time in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the leader.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has raised doubts about the strength of these allegations, and why these charges are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "should the Justice Department is capable to demonstrate the facts alleged and show the information is correctly classified, his conduct may very well have violated the law".

Charging such a senior figure for mishandling classified documents is "rare" but not without precedent, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that involve classified information pose challenges to try, but they can and are filed against equally low-level and high-level officials, from time to time," she said.

Parallels to Examinations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly encountered allegations of improperly storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and voided by his re-election as president.

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

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

Strict protocols govern the management of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove that Bolton knew the information he was sending was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the sensitive nature of the information at issue in this matter, we don't have a lot of details about the reasons the prosecution believes things like the diary entries and the additional information he shared by electronic message, and why there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Prosecution

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

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

"This Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge seemed to have observed the regular process including the regulations and standards within the DOJ," he said.

Unlike Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the details concerning the circumstances and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably consistent with a series of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and shared classified material."