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

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's killing our reputation and trustworthiness," the president stated recently in a social media post.

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

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

But the most recent allegations against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors say.

"I would say, contrasting Bolton's case to Comey's is like comparing apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a ex acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

This Details of the Case

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the supposed improper handling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for the presidency in his book.

Specialists say that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the evidence compiled 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 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 time as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House exit, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the country at risk by improperly keeping and sending classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked top secret.

The indictment alleges that at one point a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where files were stored and sent an seeming threat to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on recently to eighteen separate counts of mishandling sensitive materials.

Retribution or a Substantial Case?

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

Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his experience in the Trump government that was highly critical of the leader.

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

However, he continued, "if the DOJ is able to prove the facts alleged and demonstrate the information is correctly designated, his behavior may very well have violated the law".

Prosecuting such a senior official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that involve classified information pose difficulties to try, but they may and are filed against both junior and senior personnel, from time to time," she explained.

Parallels to Examinations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise faced charges of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and hindering their recovery, but that case was eventually thrown out by a court official and voided by his return as president.

A independent investigator also determined that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to criminally charge him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a top security position at the DOJ.

Strict procedures regulate the management of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the information he was sending was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Because of the classified nature of the material at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of details about the reasons the prosecution contends elements like the personal notes and the additional material he shared by email, and why there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Conventional Prosecution

The procedure by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump publicly expressed his desire to see his political opponents prosecuted and some of those charges came to fruition.

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

"The Bolton case and eventually the indictment seemed to have observed the regular process including the regulations and norms within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" document that "clearly outlines the particulars involving the circumstances and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems fairly consistent with a series of precedents... where government officials mishandled and shared classified material."