Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently shown his wish to see opponents investigated, applying pressure on the DOJ 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 leader stated last month in a Truth Social message.
"I was impeached me, and charged me (five times!)" he declared, referencing the four criminal cases he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.
Both have since been indicted, in situations that numerous experts have said seem to be politically motivated and difficult to win in legal proceedings.
But the most recent allegations against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and former prosecutors say.
"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's charges to James' is like comparing two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
This Details of the Legal Situation
Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations related to the supposed mishandling of sensitive materials. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken presidential opponent, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for office in his memoir.
Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the evidence gathered against him suggest a potentially more substantial case than the DOJ brought against Comey.
"This misconduct that's being alleged is both 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.
Throughout his time as Trump's security advisor, and following his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton placed the nation at danger by improperly keeping and sending sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were labeled highly classified.
The charge states that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where files were kept 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 separate charges of improperly handling sensitive materials.
Retribution or a Substantial Case?
The schedule of his indictment - coming on the tails of charges against Comey - has revived questions about political pressure on the justice system.
Trump previously implied Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, wrote a publication about his experience in the Trump administration that was sharply negative of the leader.
"Undoubtedly that the timing of this indictment, when paired with others, has prompted doubts about the validity of these charges, and the reason these counts are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.
However, he added, "should the DOJ is capable to prove the facts stated and show the information is correctly classified, his behavior may very well have broken the statute".
Charging such a high-ranking official for mishandling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, noted Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.
"Situations that concern classified information pose challenges to prosecute, but they can and are brought against both junior and high-level officials, from occasionally," she explained.
Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President
Trump similarly encountered charges of wrongfully keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and hindering their return, but that matter was eventually dismissed by a federal judge and negated by his return as leader.
A special counsel also found that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained sensitive materials from his time as second-in-command, but failed to criminally charge him.
Bolton's situation bears similarities to Biden's classified documents matters, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior security role at the Justice Department.
Rigorous protocols govern the handling of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the government must prove that Bolton was aware the information he was sending was classified, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone without authorization to obtain it.
"Because of the classified character of the material at issue in this case, we don't have a lot of details about why the prosecution contends elements like the personal notes and the other material he communicated by email, and why there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.
A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution
The procedure by which the Justice Department brought this case will be under scrutiny, following Trump openly posted his wish to see his critics charged and several of those charges came to fruition.
But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's case, prosecutors seem to have followed protocol.
"The Bolton case and ultimately the charge appeared to have followed the regular procedure including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he said.
In contrast to Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "explicitly outlines the details concerning the circumstances and situation here," Mr Lesko commented.
"It seems reasonably aligned with a series of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and shared classified material."
