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

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

"I was impeached me, and charged me (5 times!)" he said, mentioning the four criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Both have subsequently been indicted, in situations that many specialists have said seem to be driven by politics and difficult to win in legal proceedings.

But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, former national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and ex-prosecutors assert.

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

The Specifics of Bolton's Legal Situation

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges related to the alleged mishandling of sensitive materials. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken Trump critic, going so far as to describe him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for office in his book.

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

"These actions that's being claimed is both more serious and seems to have taken place over a significant period of time," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor 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, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the nation at risk by improperly keeping and sending classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were marked top secret.

The charge states that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's system where documents were stored and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

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

Retribution or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The timing of his indictment - coming on the tails of charges against Comey - has revived concerns about external influence on the justice system.

Trump previously implied Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration that was sharply negative of the leader.

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when combined with others, has raised questions about the validity of these charges, and why these charges are being brought now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the Justice Department is able to demonstrate the allegations stated and show the material is correctly designated, his conduct may certainly have broken the law".

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

"Situations that involve classified information pose difficulties to prosecute, but they can and are brought against both junior and high-level officials, from time to time," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly faced allegations of improperly 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 voided by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel also determined that ex-President Joe Biden improperly stored classified documents from his time as second-in-command, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Biden's classified documents matters, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security position at the Justice Department.

Strict protocols govern the handling of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must prove that Bolton knew the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Due to the classified character of the material at issue in this matter, we don't have a great deal of particulars about the reasons the government contends elements like the personal notes and the other information he communicated by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Legal Action

The process by which the Justice Department brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump openly posted his wish to see his critics charged and several of those charges materialized.

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

"The Bolton prosecution and eventually the charge appeared to have followed the regular process including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "clearly outlines the details involving the facts and circumstances here," Mr Lesko commented.

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