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Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his wish to see opponents probed, applying pressure on the Justice Department to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay any longer, it's damaging our reputation and credibility," the president stated recently in a social media post.

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

Both have subsequently been indicted, in situations that many experts have stated seem to be politically motivated and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors say.

"I would say, comparing Bolton's case to Comey's is like equating apples to oranges," 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 formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the supposed improper handling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal Trump critic, going so far as to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for office in his book.

Experts say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the methods used to obtain an indictment and the proof gathered against him indicate a potentially stronger case than the DOJ brought against James.

"These actions that's being alleged is simultaneously more serious and seems to have taken place over a considerable period of time," 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 after his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton put the country at risk by wrongfully keeping and sending classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the materials were marked top secret.

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

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

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The timing of his charge - arriving on the heels of allegations against Comey - has revived concerns about external influence on the legal system.

Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in jail, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the leader.

"There's no question that the timing of this charge, when combined with others, has prompted doubts about the validity of these charges, and the reason these charges are being filed now," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the Justice Department is capable to prove the facts alleged and demonstrate the information is correctly designated, his behavior may very well have broken the law".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for improperly handling classified documents is "uncommon" but not unprecedented, noted Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

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

Parallels to Examinations into Former President and President

Trump similarly encountered allegations of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and negated by his return as president.

A independent investigator also found that ex-President Joe Biden improperly maintained classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation shares characteristics to Trump's sensitive materials issues, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a senior security role at the Justice Department.

Strict procedures regulate the handling of sensitive materials. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecution must prove that Bolton was aware the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Because of the classified character of the material at question in this matter, we don't have a great deal of particulars about the reasons the government contends elements like the diary entries and the other material he communicated by email, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Prosecution

The process by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be closely examined, following Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his political opponents prosecuted and several of those indictments materialized.

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

"This Bolton case and ultimately the charge appeared to have observed the regular process including the rules and norms within the DOJ," he stated.

Unlike Comey's brief, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" document that "clearly sets forth the particulars involving the facts and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

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