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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently shown his desire to see opponents probed, exerting influence on the DOJ to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's killing our standing and trustworthiness," the president wrote last month in a social media post.

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

Both have since been charged, in cases that numerous experts have stated seem to be politically motivated and challenging to succeed in legal proceedings.

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

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

The Specifics of Bolton's Case

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

Specialists say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the methods used to secure an charge and the evidence compiled against him indicate a possibly stronger case than the Justice Department presented against James.

"These actions that's being claimed is both more severe 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 tenure as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House exit, authorities alleged that Bolton put the country at risk by improperly retaining and sending sensitive documents to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were marked highly classified.

The charge alleges that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where files were stored and sent an apparent warning to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on recently to eighteen separate counts of improperly handling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Case?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the heels of charges against James - has renewed concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, authored a publication about his experience in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the timing of this indictment, when paired with others, has prompted doubts about the validity of these charges, and the reason these counts are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he continued, "should the DOJ is capable to demonstrate the facts alleged and show the information is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have broken the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not without precedent, said Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern classified information present difficulties to try, but they may and are filed against both low-level and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she said.

Similarities to Investigations into Former President and President

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

A special counsel additionally determined that ex-President Joe Biden wrongfully stored classified documents from his period as second-in-command, but did not criminally charge him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Trump's classified documents matters, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security role at the Justice Department.

Rigorous protocols regulate the handling of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must demonstrate that Bolton knew the material he was sending was classified, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone without authorization to obtain it.

"Because of the sensitive character of the material at issue in this matter, we don't have a great deal of particulars about why the government contends things like the personal notes and the additional information he communicated by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Prosecution

The process by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his critics charged and some of those charges materialized.

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

"The Bolton case and eventually the indictment seemed to have followed the regular process including the rules and norms within the Department of Justice," he said.

In contrast to Comey's short, concise indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "clearly outlines the details concerning the facts and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It appears fairly consistent with a series of precedents... where government officials mishandled and shared sensitive information."