🔗 Share this article

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown his desire to see opponents probed, applying influence on the Justice Department to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the leader wrote last month in a Truth Social post.

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

Both have subsequently been charged, in cases that many experts have said seem to be politically motivated and challenging to succeed in court.

But the latest allegations against a Trump critic, former security advisor John Bolton, differ significantly, legal experts and ex-prosecutors say.

"I would say, contrasting Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating apples to oranges," stated Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

This Specifics of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges related to the supposed improper handling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal presidential opponent, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for the presidency in his book.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an charge and the proof compiled against him indicate a possibly stronger case than the Justice Department brought against James.

"This misconduct that's being claimed is both more serious and seems to have occurred over a considerable 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 departure, authorities alleged that Bolton placed the country at danger by improperly retaining and sending sensitive documents to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Several of the documents were labeled highly classified.

The indictment alleges that at one point a unauthorized user accessed to Bolton's account where files were kept and sent an apparent threat to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on recently to eighteen distinct counts of mishandling classified information.

Political Motivation or a Strong Case?

The timing of his indictment - arriving on the tails of charges against James - has renewed concerns about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in jail, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration that was sharply negative of the president.

"There's no question that the schedule of this charge, when combined with additional cases, has prompted questions about the validity of these charges, and why these charges are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he continued, "if the Justice Department is able to demonstrate the facts alleged and show the information is correctly classified, his behavior may certainly have violated the statute".

Charging such a senior official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.

"Cases that involve classified information present difficulties to try, but they can and are brought against equally low-level and high-level personnel, from time to time," she explained.

Similarities to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly faced allegations of wrongfully keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and obstructing their return, but that case was ultimately dismissed by a court official and voided by his return as leader.

A independent investigator also determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained classified documents from his period as second-in-command, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's classified documents matters, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top security position at the Justice Department.

Strict procedures regulate the handling of sensitive materials. To win a guilty verdict, the government must prove that Bolton was aware the information he was sending was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone not entitled to obtain it.

"Due to the classified nature of the information at question in this case, we lack a great deal of particulars about why the prosecution believes things like the diary entries and the other material he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump openly expressed his desire to see his political opponents charged and several of those charges came to fruition.

But Mr Lesko indicated in Bolton's case, authorities appear to have followed standard procedure.

"This Bolton prosecution and eventually the indictment seemed to have followed the regular procedure including the regulations and norms within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page charge, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "clearly sets forth the particulars concerning the circumstances and circumstances here," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems reasonably consistent with a long line of cases... where government officials improperly handled and shared classified material."