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Former President Donald Trump has consistently shown his wish to see opponents probed, exerting pressure on the Justice Department to prosecute ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the president wrote recently in a social media post.

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

Both have subsequently been charged, in situations that numerous experts have stated appear to be driven by politics and difficult to win in legal proceedings.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and former prosecutors say.

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

The 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 emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, even to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for office in his memoir.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an indictment and the evidence gathered against him suggest a possibly more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department presented against Comey.

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

Throughout his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and following his 2019 White House exit, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the nation at risk by wrongfully keeping and sending sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were marked highly classified.

The indictment states that at a certain time a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's account where files were stored and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on recently to 18 distinct counts of mishandling sensitive materials.

Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?

The schedule of his charge - arriving on the tails of allegations against Comey - has renewed questions about external influence on the justice system.

Trump previously suggested Bolton should be in prison, and described him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his role, wrote a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this indictment, when paired with others, has raised questions about the strength of these allegations, and why these counts are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

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

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

"Situations that concern sensitive materials pose challenges to prosecute, but they may and are brought against both junior and senior personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump similarly encountered allegations of wrongfully storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was eventually dismissed by a federal judge and negated by his re-election as leader.

A independent investigator also determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his period as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation shares characteristics to Biden's sensitive materials matters, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security position at the DOJ.

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

"Due to the sensitive character of the material at question in this matter, we lack a great deal of details about why the prosecution believes elements like the diary entries and the other information he shared by email, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Prosecution

The process by which the Justice Department brought this case will be closely examined, following Trump publicly posted his desire to see his political opponents prosecuted and some of those indictments came to fruition.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's situation, authorities seem to have adhered to protocol.

"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge seemed to have observed the standard procedure including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he said.

Unlike Comey's brief, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "clearly sets forth the details involving the circumstances and situation here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It seems reasonably aligned with a series of precedents... where government officials mishandled and shared sensitive information."