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

"We cannot postpone further, it's killing our reputation and credibility," the president wrote last month in a Truth Social post.

"I was impeached twice, and charged me (5 times!)" he declared, referencing the four criminal cases he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have since been charged, in cases that numerous experts have said appear to be driven by politics and difficult to win in legal proceedings.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, former national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and former prosecutors assert.

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

The Details of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations related to the supposed improper handling of sensitive materials. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal Trump critic, even to describe him "stunningly uninformed" and unsuitable for the presidency in his book.

Specialists say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an indictment and the evidence compiled against him suggest a possibly stronger legal argument than the DOJ presented against Comey.

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

During his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House exit, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the nation at danger by wrongfully keeping and transmitting sensitive documents to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled top secret.

The charge states that at one point a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where files were kept and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

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 Case?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the heels of allegations against Comey - has revived concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the timing of this charge, when paired with others, has raised questions about the strength of these allegations, and why these charges are being brought at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the DOJ is able to demonstrate the facts stated and show the material is correctly designated, his behavior may certainly have broken the statute".

Charging such a senior official for mishandling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

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

Parallels to Examinations into Trump and Biden

Trump likewise faced allegations of improperly storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and hindering their recovery, but that case was ultimately thrown out by a federal judge and voided by his return as president.

A special counsel additionally found that ex-President Joe Biden improperly stored classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Biden's sensitive materials matters, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a senior security position at the DOJ.

Strict procedures regulate the handling of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the government must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the information he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Because of the sensitive character of the material at question in this case, we don't have a great deal of particulars about why the prosecution contends elements like the personal notes and the additional material he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Legal Action

The process by which the Justice Department brought this case will be closely examined, following Trump openly expressed his desire to see his critics prosecuted and several of those charges came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton prosecution and ultimately the indictment seemed to have observed the standard process including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" document that "explicitly outlines the details involving the circumstances and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

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