🔗 Share this article

Former President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his desire to see opponents investigated, exerting influence on the DOJ to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our standing and trustworthiness," the leader stated last month in a social media post.

"They impeached me, and charged me (five times!)" he said, mentioning the four criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House in 2021 and James's lawsuit.

Each have subsequently been charged, in cases that many specialists have said appear to be politically motivated and challenging to win in legal proceedings.

But the most recent allegations 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 equating two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

The Specifics of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been criminally indicted on federal charges pertaining to the supposed mishandling of sensitive materials. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken Trump critic, going so far as to describe him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for office in his book.

Experts contend that while there may be political motivations to target Bolton, the procedures used to secure an indictment and the proof compiled against him indicate a possibly more substantial case than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"These actions that's being alleged is simultaneously more serious and appears to have occurred 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 national security adviser, and after his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton put the nation at risk by wrongfully keeping and transmitting classified information to relatives using insecure means, including AOL. Some of the documents were labeled top secret.

The charge alleges that at one point a hacker accessed to Bolton's account where files were stored and transmitted an apparent warning to cause "the biggest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

Bolton pleaded not guilty during a hearing on recently to 18 separate counts of improperly handling sensitive materials.

Political Motivation or a Strong Legal Argument?

The timing of his charge - arriving on the heels of allegations against James - has revived concerns about external influence on the justice system.

Trump previously implied Bolton should be in prison, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, wrote a publication about his experience in the Trump government that was sharply negative of the leader.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this indictment, when paired with others, has prompted doubts about the validity of these allegations, and why these counts are being brought now," stated Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "should the DOJ is able to prove the allegations stated and demonstrate the material is correctly designated, his behavior may certainly have broken the statute".

Prosecuting such a senior figure for improperly handling classified documents is "rare" but not without precedent, noted Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"Situations that involve classified information pose challenges to try, but they can and are brought against both low-level and senior officials, from time to time," she explained.

Parallels to Investigations into Trump and President

Trump similarly faced allegations of improperly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing their recovery, but that case was ultimately thrown out by a court official and voided by his return as president.

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

Bolton's situation shares characteristics to Trump's sensitive materials matters, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security position at the Justice Department.

Rigorous protocols regulate the handling of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the prosecution must demonstrate that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was restricted, and he had to intentionally 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 lot of details about why the prosecution believes things like the personal notes and the other material he communicated by electronic message, and why there were restricted," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Legal Action

The procedure by which the DOJ brought this case will be under scrutiny, following Trump openly posted his wish 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.

"The Bolton prosecution and eventually the charge seemed to have followed the regular process including the rules and standards within the Department of Justice," he said.

In contrast to Comey's short, two-page charge, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" document that "explicitly outlines the particulars concerning the circumstances and situation in this instance," Mr Lesko commented.

"It appears fairly consistent with a series of cases... where public servants improperly handled and shared sensitive information."