Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see critics investigated, applying influence on the Justice Department to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"We can't delay further, it's killing our reputation and credibility," the president stated last month in a Truth Social message.
"They impeached me, and charged me (5 times!)" he declared, referencing the multiple legal proceedings he encountered after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.
Each have since been charged, in situations that many experts have said seem to be driven by politics and challenging to win in court.
But the most recent charges against a Trump critic, ex security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal specialists and former prosecutors say.
"I would say, contrasting Bolton's charges to James' is like equating two different things," said Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.
The Specifics of Bolton's Legal Situation
Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations related to the alleged improper handling of sensitive materials. After departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, even to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for the presidency in his memoir.
Specialists say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an charge and the proof compiled against him indicate a potentially stronger legal argument than the DOJ presented against James.
"This misconduct that's being alleged is both more severe and appears to have taken place over a considerable duration," said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Throughout his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House departure, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the nation at danger by wrongfully retaining and transmitting classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the materials were labeled top secret.
The charge alleges that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's system where documents were stored and transmitted an apparent threat to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".
Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on Friday to eighteen distinct counts of mishandling sensitive materials.
Political Motivation or a Strong Case?
The timing of his charge - coming on the heels of allegations against James - has revived questions about external influence on the legal system.
Trump previously suggested Bolton should be in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a publication about his time in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the leader.
"Undoubtedly that the timing of this indictment, when combined with additional cases, has prompted doubts about the validity of these allegations, and the reason these counts are being filed now," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.
However, he continued, "should the Justice Department is capable to demonstrate the facts alleged and show the information is correctly classified, his conduct may very well have broken the law".
Charging such a senior official for mishandling classified documents is "uncommon" but not without precedent, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.
"Cases that involve sensitive materials pose difficulties to try, but they may and are filed against equally low-level and senior personnel, from occasionally," she said.
Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President
Trump likewise encountered allegations of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their return, but that matter was ultimately thrown out by a federal judge and voided by his return as president.
A independent investigator also determined that former President Joe Biden improperly stored classified documents from his time as vice president, but did not prosecute him.
Bolton's case shares characteristics to Trump's classified documents issues, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security position at the DOJ.
Rigorous procedures govern the handling of classified documents. To win a guilty verdict, the government must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the material he was sending was restricted, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.
"Due to the sensitive nature of the information at question in this matter, we don't have a lot of details about the reasons the government contends elements like the personal notes and the other material he communicated by electronic message, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.
A Increasingly Conventional Legal Action
The process by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly expressed his desire to see his political opponents prosecuted and some of those indictments materialized.
But Mr Lesko indicated in Bolton's situation, authorities seem to have followed protocol.
"The Bolton case and eventually the indictment appeared to have observed the standard process including the regulations and standards within the Department of Justice," he said.
Unlike Comey's brief, concise charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" filing that "explicitly outlines the details concerning the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.
"It seems reasonably aligned with a long line of cases... where government officials improperly handled and transmitted sensitive information."
