🔗 Share this article

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

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's killing our standing and credibility," the president wrote last month in a Truth Social post.

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

Each have subsequently been indicted, in cases that numerous experts have said appear to be politically motivated and challenging to succeed in court.

But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, ex security advisor John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and former prosecutors assert.

"I would say, contrasting Bolton's case to Comey's is like equating two different things," 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 criminally indicted on federal charges related to the supposed mishandling of sensitive materials. After leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, even to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for office in his book.

Experts say that while there may be political motivations to go after Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the evidence compiled against him suggest a potentially more substantial case than the DOJ brought against Comey.

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

During his time as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors claimed that Bolton put the country at risk by improperly retaining and transmitting classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled top secret.

The indictment states that at a certain time a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's system where files were kept and transmitted an seeming warning to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Friday to 18 separate charges of mishandling sensitive materials.

Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?

The schedule of his charge - arriving on the heels of allegations against Comey - has renewed questions about external influence on the legal system.

Trump previously suggested Bolton belonged in prison, and called him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a publication about his experience in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the leader.

"There's no question that the schedule of this indictment, when paired with others, has raised doubts about the strength of these allegations, and the reason these charges are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Nevertheless, he added, "if the Justice Department is capable to demonstrate the allegations stated and show the material is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have broken the law".

Charging such a high-ranking official for mishandling sensitive materials is "rare" but not without precedent, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that involve sensitive materials pose challenges to try, but they may and are filed against both junior and high-level officials, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President

Trump similarly encountered allegations of improperly storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their return, but that matter was ultimately thrown out by a federal judge and negated by his return as leader.

A independent investigator additionally determined that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained classified documents from his period as second-in-command, but did not criminally charge him.

Bolton's situation shares characteristics to Trump's sensitive materials matters, said Mr Lesko, who also held a senior security role at the DOJ.

Strict protocols regulate the handling of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transmit it to someone without authorization to receive it.

"Due to the sensitive character of the information at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of particulars about why the government contends elements like the personal notes and the additional information he communicated by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Prosecution

The process by which the Justice Department brought this case will be closely examined, following Trump openly posted his desire to see his critics charged and several of those charges materialized.

But Mr Lesko indicated in Bolton's case, prosecutors seem to have adhered to protocol.

"This Bolton case and ultimately the charge appeared to have followed the regular procedure including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

Unlike Comey's short, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "clearly sets forth the particulars involving the facts and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems reasonably consistent with a long line of precedents... where public servants mishandled and shared sensitive information."