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Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see critics investigated, exerting influence on the Justice Department to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the leader stated last month in a social media post.

"I was impeached me, and charged me (five times!)" he declared, referencing the multiple legal proceedings he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Each have since been indicted, in situations that many experts have stated appear to be politically motivated and difficult to succeed in court.

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

"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's case to Comey's is like comparing apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

This Specifics of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the alleged mishandling of sensitive materials. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken Trump critic, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for office in his book.

Experts say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the evidence compiled against him indicate a potentially more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department presented against James.

"These actions that's being alleged is simultaneously 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 security advisor, and following his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton put the country at risk by improperly retaining and transmitting sensitive documents to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled top secret.

The indictment states that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where documents were kept and transmitted an apparent warning to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Friday to eighteen separate counts of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the tails of charges against Comey - has renewed concerns about external influence on the legal system.

Trump once suggested Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his time in the Trump government that was highly critical of the president.

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when paired with others, has prompted doubts about the validity of these charges, and why these charges are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "should the Justice Department is capable to demonstrate the facts stated and demonstrate the material is correctly classified, his behavior may very well have violated the statute".

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

"Situations that concern sensitive materials present challenges to try, but they can and are filed against both low-level and high-level officials, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise faced charges of improperly 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 also determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained sensitive materials from his period as second-in-command, but did not prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's sensitive materials matters, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a senior security position at the DOJ.

Strict protocols govern the management of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the prosecution must prove that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the classified nature of the information at issue in this case, we don't have a great deal of details about why the government contends elements like the personal notes and the other information he communicated by email, and the reason there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A More Conventional Legal Action

The process by which the Justice Department initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly expressed his desire to see his political opponents prosecuted and several of those charges came to fruition.

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

"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge appeared to have followed the regular procedure including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

Unlike Comey's short, concise indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" document that "explicitly sets forth the details involving the circumstances and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems fairly aligned with a series of cases... where government officials improperly handled and transmitted classified material."