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Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his wish to see opponents probed, applying pressure on the DOJ to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's killing our standing and trustworthiness," the president stated recently in a Truth Social post.

"They impeached twice, and charged me (5 times!)" he said, mentioning the multiple legal proceedings he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have since been charged, in situations that many experts have stated seem to be politically motivated and challenging to succeed in court.

But the latest allegations against a presidential opponent, former security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors say.

"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The Specifics of the Case

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified information. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, going so far as to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unsuitable for office in his memoir.

Specialists say that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the evidence compiled against him indicate a possibly stronger case than the DOJ presented against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is simultaneously more serious and seems to have taken place over a significant duration," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Throughout his time as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton placed the country at risk by wrongfully retaining and transmitting classified information to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the materials were marked top secret.

The charge alleges that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where files were kept and sent an seeming warning to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on recently to 18 distinct counts of improperly handling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

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

Trump once implied Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the timing of this indictment, when combined with others, has raised questions about the strength of these charges, and the reason these charges are being filed at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "should the Justice Department is capable to prove the allegations alleged and show the material is correctly classified, his conduct may certainly have broken the statute".

Charging such a senior figure for improperly handling classified documents is "rare" but not unprecedented, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that concern sensitive materials present difficulties to prosecute, but they may and are filed against both low-level and senior officials, from occasionally," she explained.

Similarities to Examinations into Former President and President

Trump likewise faced allegations of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their return, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and negated by his re-election as president.

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

Bolton's case bears similarities to Biden's classified documents matters, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a senior national security role at the Justice Department.

Rigorous protocols regulate the handling of classified documents. To win a conviction, the prosecution must prove that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to obtain it.

"Because of the classified nature of the material at question in this case, we don't have a lot of details about the reasons the government 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 DOJ initiated this case will be closely examined, following Trump publicly posted his desire to see his political opponents charged and several of those charges materialized.

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

"This Bolton prosecution and eventually the charge seemed to have followed the standard process including the regulations and norms within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page charge, Bolton's was a more "conventional" document that "explicitly outlines the particulars involving the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It appears reasonably consistent with a long line of cases... where public servants mishandled and transmitted sensitive information."