🔗 Share this article

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see critics probed, exerting pressure on the Justice Department to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," the president wrote last month in a Truth Social message.

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

Each have subsequently been indicted, in situations that numerous specialists have said appear to be politically motivated and difficult to win in legal proceedings.

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

"I would say, comparing Bolton's case to Comey's is like comparing two different things," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The Specifics of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the supposed mishandling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal Trump critic, even to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unsuitable for the presidency in his memoir.

Experts say that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an charge and the evidence gathered against him suggest a potentially more substantial legal argument than the Justice Department presented against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being claimed is both more severe and seems to have occurred over a significant period of time," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Throughout his time as Trump's national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton put the country at danger by wrongfully keeping and transmitting classified information to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled highly classified.

The charge states that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's account where files were kept and sent an seeming warning to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Friday to eighteen distinct charges of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Substantial Legal Argument?

The schedule of his indictment - arriving on the tails of allegations against Comey - has revived questions about external influence on the justice system.

Trump once implied Bolton should be in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, authored a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this charge, when combined with additional cases, has raised questions about the strength of these allegations, and the reason these counts are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the DOJ is able to demonstrate the allegations alleged and show the material is properly classified, his conduct may very well have violated the statute".

Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that concern sensitive materials pose challenges to prosecute, but they may and are brought against equally low-level and senior officials, from occasionally," she said.

Parallels to Examinations into Trump and Biden

Trump similarly encountered allegations of improperly storing sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was eventually thrown out by a court official and negated by his return as president.

A independent investigator additionally determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation shares characteristics to Trump's classified documents issues, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a senior national security role at the DOJ.

Strict protocols govern the handling of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must prove that Bolton knew the material he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to intentionally transfer it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Because of the sensitive character of the material at question in this case, we don't have a lot of details about why the prosecution believes elements like the personal notes and the other information he communicated by email, and why there were restricted," said Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated 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 indicated in Bolton's situation, prosecutors seem to have adhered to protocol.

"This Bolton case and eventually the indictment seemed to have followed the standard process including the rules and norms within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "traditional" document that "clearly sets forth the details concerning the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears reasonably consistent with a long line of precedents... where government officials mishandled and transmitted classified material."