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Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his wish to see opponents investigated, exerting pressure on the DOJ to prosecute ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the president wrote recently in a social media message.

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

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

But the most recent 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 apples to oranges," stated Mark Lesko, a ex acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

This Specifics of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been criminally indicted on national allegations related to the alleged mishandling of classified information. After departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal Trump critic, even to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for office in his memoir.

Experts contend 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 case than the DOJ presented against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is simultaneously more severe and seems to have taken place over a considerable duration," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his time as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors alleged that Bolton placed the country at danger by wrongfully retaining and sending sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked top secret.

The indictment states that at one point a unauthorized user gained access to Bolton's system where documents were stored and transmitted an seeming warning to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a hearing on recently to 18 distinct counts of improperly handling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The timing of his indictment - coming on the tails of charges against James - has renewed questions about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his role, wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the president.

"There's no question that the schedule of this indictment, when paired with additional cases, has prompted doubts about the validity of these allegations, and why these charges are being brought now," stated Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the DOJ is capable to demonstrate the allegations alleged and demonstrate the information is correctly classified, his conduct may certainly have violated the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking figure for mishandling classified documents is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, noted Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

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

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly faced charges of wrongfully storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and voided by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel additionally found that ex-President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to criminally charge him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Trump's classified documents matters, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security position at the Justice Department.

Rigorous procedures regulate the management of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must demonstrate that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone without authorization to obtain it.

"Due to the classified character of the information at issue in this matter, we lack a lot of particulars about the reasons the government believes elements like the diary entries and the additional material he shared by email, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Conventional Legal Action

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be closely examined, after Trump openly posted his desire to see his critics prosecuted and several of those indictments materialized.

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

"This Bolton case and eventually the indictment appeared to have followed the standard process including the regulations and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" document that "explicitly outlines the details involving the facts and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems reasonably aligned with a series of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and shared sensitive information."