Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to see critics investigated, applying influence on the DOJ to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our standing and trustworthiness," the president stated last month in a Truth Social message.
"I was impeached twice, and indicted me (5 times!)" he said, referencing the multiple legal proceedings he encountered after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.
Both have since been charged, in cases that numerous experts have said seem to be politically motivated and challenging to win in court.
But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, ex security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors assert.
"In my opinion, comparing Bolton's case to Comey's is like comparing two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges pertaining to the supposed improper handling of classified information. After departing the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken presidential opponent, going so far as to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for office in his book.
Experts say that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the proof compiled against him suggest a possibly stronger case than the Justice Department presented against Comey.
"This misconduct that's being alleged is simultaneously more serious and seems to have taken place over a significant period of time," commented Carissa Byrne Hessick, a academic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Throughout his tenure as Trump's national security adviser, and following his 2019 White House exit, authorities claimed that Bolton put the nation at danger by improperly keeping and sending classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Several of the materials were labeled highly classified.
The charge states that at one point a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where documents were stored and sent an apparent threat to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".
Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on Friday to 18 distinct counts of improperly handling sensitive materials.
The schedule of his indictment - coming on the heels of allegations against Comey - has renewed questions about external influence on the justice system.
Trump previously suggested Bolton should be in jail, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a book about his experience in the Trump government that was highly critical of the leader.
"Undoubtedly that the timing of this charge, when paired with additional cases, has prompted questions about the validity of these allegations, and the reason these counts are being brought at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and director of the National Security Institute.
However, he added, "should the DOJ is able to prove the allegations alleged and show the material is correctly designated, his behavior may certainly have broken the law".
Prosecuting such a senior figure for improperly handling classified documents is "uncommon" but not without precedent, said Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
"Cases that involve sensitive materials present difficulties to try, but they may and are brought against both junior and high-level officials, from time to time," she explained.
Trump likewise faced allegations of wrongfully keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was ultimately dismissed by a court official and negated by his re-election as leader.
A special counsel also determined that former President Joe Biden improperly stored classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.
Bolton's case shares characteristics to Biden's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security position at the DOJ.
Strict protocols govern the management of classified documents. To secure a guilty verdict, the government must demonstrate that Bolton knew the material he was sending was restricted, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to obtain it.
"Due to the classified nature of the material at issue in this case, we don't have a great deal of details about the reasons the government contends elements like the diary entries and the other information he shared by electronic message, and why there were classified," said Mr Jaffer.
The process by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be closely examined, following Trump publicly posted his wish to see his critics charged and several of those indictments came to fruition.
But Mr Lesko indicated in Bolton's case, prosecutors appear to have followed protocol.
"This Bolton case and ultimately the indictment appeared to have followed the standard procedure including the regulations and norms within the Department of Justice," he said.
Unlike Comey's brief, concise indictment, Bolton's was a more "conventional" document that "explicitly sets forth the particulars involving the circumstances and situation here," Mr Lesko commented.
"It appears reasonably aligned with a long line of precedents... where government officials improperly handled and shared classified material."
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