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Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his wish to see critics probed, applying pressure on the Justice Department to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's killing our standing and credibility," the leader wrote last month in a Truth Social message.

"I was impeached me, and charged me (five times!)" he declared, mentioning the four criminal cases he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have since been charged, in situations that many experts have said seem to be driven by politics and difficult to succeed in court.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, former security advisor John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and ex-prosecutors say.

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

The Details of the Legal Situation

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges related to the alleged improper handling of sensitive materials. After 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 target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the proof gathered against him indicate a possibly stronger case than the Justice Department brought against James.

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

During his time as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton put the nation at risk by wrongfully keeping and transmitting sensitive documents to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the documents were marked top secret.

The indictment alleges that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's system where files were stored and transmitted an apparent warning to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a hearing on recently to eighteen distinct charges of improperly handling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Strong Case?

The timing of his indictment - coming on the heels of charges against James - has renewed concerns about political pressure on the legal system.

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

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when paired with additional cases, has prompted questions about the strength of these charges, and the reason these charges are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "should the DOJ is capable to prove the allegations alleged and demonstrate the material is properly classified, his behavior may certainly have broken the law".

Charging 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 difficulties to try, but they can and are brought against equally junior and high-level personnel, from time to time," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump likewise faced allegations of improperly storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge and negated by his re-election as president.

A independent investigator additionally determined that ex-President Joe Biden improperly stored sensitive materials from his period as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's case shares characteristics to Biden's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a top national security position at the Justice Department.

Rigorous protocols regulate the management of sensitive materials. To win a conviction, the government must prove that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Due to the sensitive character of the information at question in this case, we lack a lot of particulars about why the prosecution contends things like the personal notes and the other material he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Legal Action

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly posted his wish to see his critics charged and several of those charges came to fruition.

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

"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge seemed to have observed the standard process including the regulations and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

Unlike Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the particulars concerning the circumstances and circumstances here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears fairly consistent with a series of cases... where government officials improperly handled and shared sensitive information."