🔗 Share this article

Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently shown his desire to see critics probed, applying influence on the DOJ to prosecute ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We can't delay further, it's damaging our reputation and trustworthiness," the president stated last month in a Truth Social post.

"They impeached twice, and indicted me (five times!)" he declared, referencing the multiple legal proceedings he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.

Each have since been charged, in cases that many specialists have said appear to be driven by politics and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

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

"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's charges to James' is like comparing apples to oranges," stated Mark Lesko, a ex acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The Details of the Case

Bolton has been formally charged on national allegations related to the supposed mishandling of classified information. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken presidential opponent, going so far as to call him "stunningly uninformed" and unfit for office in his book.

Specialists say that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the procedures used to obtain an indictment and the evidence gathered against him suggest a potentially more substantial case than the Justice Department brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being claimed is both more severe and seems to have occurred over a considerable 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 following his 2019 White House departure, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the nation at risk by wrongfully keeping and transmitting classified information to family members using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were marked highly classified.

The indictment states that at one point a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where documents were stored and sent an apparent warning to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were released".

Bolton entered a not guilty plea during a hearing on Friday to 18 distinct counts of mishandling classified information.

Retribution or a Strong Case?

The schedule of his indictment - coming on the heels of charges against James - has revived questions about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in jail, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, authored a book about his experience in the Trump government 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 allegations, and why these charges are being filed at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, creator and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "if the DOJ is capable to prove the allegations stated and show the information is correctly classified, his conduct may very well have violated the statute".

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 concern classified information present challenges to try, but they may and are brought against both low-level and senior personnel, from occasionally," she explained.

Similarities to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump similarly faced allegations of improperly keeping sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their return, but that case was eventually dismissed by a court official and voided by his re-election as president.

A special counsel also found that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his time as second-in-command, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's sensitive materials matters, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior national security position at the DOJ.

Rigorous protocols govern the handling of classified documents. To win a conviction, the prosecution must prove that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to knowingly transfer it to someone not entitled to receive it.

"Due to the sensitive character of the information at issue in this matter, we lack a great deal of particulars about why the prosecution contends things like the personal notes and the other material he shared by electronic message, and the reason there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A More Traditional Prosecution

The process by which the DOJ brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, following Trump publicly expressed his desire to see his political opponents charged and some of those charges materialized.

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

"The Bolton prosecution and eventually the indictment seemed to have observed the standard process including the rules and standards within the Department of Justice," he stated.

In contrast to Comey's short, concise indictment, Bolton's was a more "conventional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the details involving the facts and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko said.

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