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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently shown his desire to see opponents probed, applying pressure on the Justice Department to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our standing and trustworthiness," the president stated last month in a Truth Social message.

"They impeached me, and indicted me (5 times!)" he declared, referencing the multiple legal proceedings he encountered after departing the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have subsequently been indicted, in situations that many specialists have stated seem to be driven by politics 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 former prosecutors assert.

"I would say, contrasting Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating two different things," said Mark Lesko, a ex federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

The Details of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations pertaining to the supposed improper handling of sensitive materials. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken presidential opponent, going so far as to describe him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for the presidency in his memoir.

Specialists say that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an charge and the evidence compiled against him suggest a possibly stronger case than the Justice Department brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being claimed is simultaneously more severe and appears 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 tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House exit, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the nation at danger by improperly keeping and transmitting classified information to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were labeled highly classified.

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

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

Political Motivation or a Substantial Case?

The schedule of his charge - coming on the heels of charges against Comey - has revived questions about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in prison, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this indictment, when combined with additional cases, has raised doubts about the validity of these allegations, and the reason these counts are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "if the Justice Department is capable to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the material is correctly designated, his behavior may certainly have broken the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for mishandling sensitive materials is "rare" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that concern classified information pose challenges to try, but they may and are filed against equally low-level and senior officials, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump likewise encountered allegations of wrongfully keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their recovery, but that matter was eventually thrown out by a court official and negated by his return as leader.

A independent investigator also determined that ex-President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his time as second-in-command, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's classified documents matters, said Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security role at the DOJ.

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

"Due to the classified character of the material at issue in this matter, we don't have a great deal of details about why the prosecution believes elements like the diary entries and the other material he communicated by email, and the reason there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.

A More Conventional Prosecution

The process by which the Justice Department brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly expressed his wish to see his political opponents prosecuted and some of those indictments materialized.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's case, authorities appear to have followed protocol.

"This Bolton case and ultimately the indictment seemed to have followed the standard process including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's brief, concise charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "explicitly outlines the particulars concerning the facts and circumstances here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably aligned with a series of precedents... where public servants mishandled and shared sensitive information."