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Former President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his wish to see critics probed, applying pressure on the Justice Department to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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

"They impeached twice, and indicted me (five times!)" he declared, mentioning the multiple legal proceedings he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Both have since been indicted, in situations that numerous specialists have said seem to be driven by politics and challenging to succeed in legal proceedings.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors say.

"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's charges to Comey's is like comparing two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

This Details of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges pertaining to the alleged improper handling of classified information. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, even to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unsuitable for the presidency in his book.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the evidence gathered against him indicate a possibly stronger legal argument than the DOJ presented against Comey.

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

During his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors alleged that Bolton placed the nation at risk by wrongfully retaining and sending classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the materials were marked highly classified.

The charge alleges that at a certain time a hacker gained access to Bolton's account where documents were kept and sent an apparent warning to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on Friday to 18 separate charges of mishandling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

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

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, wrote a publication about his time in the Trump administration that was sharply negative of the leader.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this charge, when paired with others, has raised questions about the validity of these allegations, and why these charges are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "should the Justice Department is able to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the material is properly designated, his conduct may certainly have violated the law".

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

"Situations that concern classified information present difficulties to try, but they can and are filed against both low-level and high-level officials, from time to time," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise faced allegations of wrongfully storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and hindering their return, but that matter was eventually thrown out by a court official and voided by his re-election as president.

A special counsel additionally found that former President Joe Biden wrongfully stored classified documents from his period as vice president, but did not criminally charge him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Biden's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who also held a top security role at the DOJ.

Rigorous procedures govern the handling of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the material he was sending was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Because of the classified nature of the material at issue in this matter, we lack a lot of particulars about the reasons the prosecution believes elements like the diary entries and the additional material he communicated by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Prosecution

The process by which the Justice Department initiated this legal action will be closely examined, after Trump openly expressed his wish to see his political opponents charged and some of those indictments came to fruition.

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

"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge appeared to have observed the regular procedure including the rules and norms within the DOJ," he stated.

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

"It seems fairly aligned with a long line of cases... where public servants improperly handled and shared classified material."