🔗 Share this article

Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his desire to see opponents probed, exerting influence 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 damaging our reputation and credibility," the president stated last month in a social media message.

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

Both have subsequently been charged, in cases that many specialists have stated seem to be politically motivated and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

But the latest charges against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and former prosecutors assert.

"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating two different things," said Mark Lesko, a ex acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

This Specifics of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations pertaining to the alleged improper handling of classified information. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a vocal Trump critic, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for office in his memoir.

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

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

Throughout his time as Trump's security advisor, and after his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the nation at risk by improperly keeping and sending sensitive documents to relatives using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled top secret.

The indictment states that at a certain time a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where documents were stored and transmitted an apparent threat to cause "the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a court appearance on Friday to 18 separate charges of improperly handling classified information.

Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?

The timing of his charge - coming on the tails of allegations against Comey - has revived concerns about external influence on the justice system.

Trump once suggested Bolton should be in jail, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his experience in the Trump government that was highly critical of the president.

"There's no question that the timing of this charge, when combined with others, has prompted doubts about the validity of these allegations, and the reason these charges are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, creator and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the DOJ is capable to prove the facts alleged and demonstrate the material is correctly designated, his conduct may very well have broken the statute".

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

"Situations that concern sensitive materials pose difficulties to prosecute, but they can and are filed against both low-level and senior officials, from occasionally," she explained.

Parallels to Examinations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly encountered charges of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and negated by his re-election as president.

A special counsel also determined that former President Joe Biden wrongfully maintained sensitive materials from his period as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's case bears similarities to Biden's sensitive materials matters, said Mr Lesko, who previously held a top security position at the DOJ.

Strict procedures govern the management of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove that Bolton was aware the material he was transmitting was classified, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Because of the classified nature of the information at issue in this case, we don't have a lot of details about the reasons the government contends elements like the diary entries and the other information he communicated by email, and why there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Legal Action

The procedure by which the DOJ initiated this case will be closely examined, after Trump openly posted his wish to see his political opponents charged and several of those indictments materialized.

But Mr Lesko said in Bolton's situation, authorities appear to have followed protocol.

"This Bolton prosecution and eventually the charge appeared to have followed the standard procedure including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" filing that "explicitly outlines the particulars involving the circumstances and situation here," Mr Lesko said.

"It seems fairly consistent with a series of precedents... where government officials improperly handled and transmitted sensitive information."