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Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to see opponents probed, exerting pressure 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 credibility," the leader wrote last month in a social media message.

"They impeached me, and charged me (five times!)" he said, referencing the four criminal cases he encountered after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Both have subsequently been charged, in cases that many experts have said appear to be politically motivated and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, former security advisor John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors assert.

"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's case to Comey's is like equating apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

The Specifics of the Case

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

Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an indictment and the evidence gathered against him indicate a possibly more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department presented against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is both more serious and seems to have occurred over a significant duration," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and following his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton placed the country at danger by improperly keeping and sending sensitive documents to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the materials were labeled highly classified.

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

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on recently to 18 distinct counts of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Case?

The schedule of his charge - arriving on the tails of charges against James - has revived concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton belonged in prison, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a publication 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 prompted doubts about the strength of these allegations, and why these charges are being brought now," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the Justice Department is capable to demonstrate the allegations alleged and show the material is correctly classified, his behavior may very well have broken the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for mishandling sensitive materials is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that involve sensitive materials present difficulties to try, but they may and are filed against equally low-level and senior officials, from time to time," she said.

Similarities to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump similarly encountered allegations of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that matter was ultimately thrown out by a court official and negated by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel also found that ex-President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained sensitive materials from his time as vice president, but did not prosecute him.

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

Rigorous procedures govern the management of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove that Bolton was aware the information he was sending was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the sensitive nature of the material at issue in this case, we lack a lot of details about why the prosecution contends things like the personal notes and the other information he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Prosecution

The procedure by which the Justice Department brought this legal action will be closely examined, following Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his critics charged and several of those indictments materialized.

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

"The Bolton case and ultimately the indictment seemed to have observed the standard procedure including the rules and norms within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" document that "clearly sets forth the particulars concerning the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears fairly consistent with a series of precedents... where public servants mishandled and transmitted classified material."