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Former President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his desire to see opponents investigated, exerting influence on the Justice Department to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our standing and credibility," the leader stated recently in a social media message.

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

Both have subsequently been charged, in cases that numerous specialists have said appear to be driven by politics and difficult to succeed in legal proceedings.

But the most recent allegations against a presidential opponent, ex security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and former prosecutors assert.

"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's case to James' is like equating apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a ex federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

This Details of Bolton's Legal Situation

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges related to the supposed mishandling of classified information. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal presidential opponent, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for office in his book.

Specialists contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an indictment and the evidence gathered against him indicate a possibly more substantial case than the Justice Department brought against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being alleged is simultaneously more severe and appears to have occurred over a significant period of time," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his time as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton put the country at danger by improperly retaining and transmitting classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked highly classified.

The charge alleges that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's account where files were stored and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on Friday to 18 separate counts of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Case?

The schedule of his charge - coming on the tails of charges against James - has renewed concerns about external influence on the legal system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the leader.

"There's no question that the timing of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has prompted doubts about the strength of these allegations, and the reason these counts are being brought now," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "should the DOJ is capable to demonstrate the facts stated and demonstrate the material is properly designated, his conduct may very well have broken the law".

Prosecuting such a senior official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "rare" but not unprecedented, noted Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that involve classified information pose challenges to prosecute, but they may and are filed against both low-level and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump similarly faced charges of wrongfully keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that matter was ultimately dismissed by a court official and voided by his return as president.

A special counsel additionally found that ex-President Joe Biden wrongfully stored sensitive materials from his time as second-in-command, but did not prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Biden's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security role at the DOJ.

Strict protocols regulate the management of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Due to the sensitive character of the information at issue in this case, we don't have a great deal of details about the reasons the prosecution believes things like the diary entries and the additional information he communicated by email, and the reason there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the DOJ brought this case will be under scrutiny, after Trump openly expressed his desire to see his critics prosecuted and some of those charges came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton case and eventually the indictment seemed to have followed the regular procedure including the regulations and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

Unlike Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "conventional" document that "explicitly sets forth the details involving the circumstances and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably aligned with a long line of precedents... where government officials improperly handled and transmitted classified material."