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Former President Donald Trump has consistently shown his desire to see critics investigated, applying influence 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 killing our standing and trustworthiness," the leader wrote recently in a Truth Social message.

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

Each have subsequently been indicted, in situations that many experts have said appear to be driven by politics and challenging to succeed in legal proceedings.

But the most recent charges against a Trump critic, former national security adviser John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and ex-prosecutors assert.

"I would say, comparing Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating two different things," 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 national allegations pertaining to the supposed mishandling of classified information. After departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken Trump critic, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for office in his book.

Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the procedures used to secure an charge and the proof gathered against him suggest a possibly stronger legal argument than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is simultaneously more serious and appears to have occurred over a considerable period of time," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House departure, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the country at risk by improperly keeping and sending sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled top secret.

The charge alleges that at one point a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where documents were stored and sent an seeming threat to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on recently to 18 separate counts of improperly handling classified information.

Retribution or a Strong Case?

The timing of his indictment - coming on the tails of charges against Comey - has renewed concerns about external influence on the justice system.

Trump previously implied Bolton belonged in jail, 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.

"There's no question that the timing of this indictment, when combined with additional cases, has raised doubts about the validity of these charges, and why these charges are being filed now," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "should the Justice Department is able to demonstrate the facts stated and demonstrate the material is properly classified, his conduct may certainly have broken the statute".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking figure for improperly handling classified documents is "rare" but not unprecedented, said Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that concern sensitive materials present challenges to try, but they can and are brought against both junior and senior officials, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Examinations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly faced charges of wrongfully keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their return, but that matter was eventually thrown out by a federal judge and voided by his re-election as leader.

A special counsel also found that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his time as vice president, but failed to criminally charge him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Biden's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who also held a top security position at the DOJ.

Rigorous procedures govern the handling of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the material he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Because of the sensitive character of the information at question in this matter, we lack a great deal of details about why the government believes things like the personal notes and the other information he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Conventional Legal Action

The procedure by which the Justice Department initiated this legal action will be closely examined, following Trump publicly posted his wish to see his political opponents charged and several of those indictments materialized.

But Mr Lesko indicated in Bolton's situation, prosecutors appear to have followed protocol.

"This Bolton prosecution and eventually the charge seemed to have observed the regular process including the regulations and norms within the DOJ," he said.

Unlike Comey's brief, concise indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the details concerning the circumstances and circumstances here," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably consistent with a long line of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and shared classified material."