🔗 Share this article

Ex-President Donald Trump has consistently expressed his wish to see opponents investigated, applying influence on the DOJ to prosecute ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"We cannot postpone any longer, it's damaging our standing and trustworthiness," the leader stated last month in a Truth Social post.

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

Both have subsequently been indicted, in cases that many experts have said seem to be driven by politics and challenging to succeed in court.

But the most recent allegations against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal specialists and former prosecutors say.

"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's case to Comey's is like equating two different things," stated Mark Lesko, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

The Details of Bolton's Case

Bolton has been criminally indicted on national allegations pertaining to the supposed improper handling of sensitive materials. After departing the White House in 2019, he has emerged as a outspoken presidential opponent, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unsuitable for office in his memoir.

Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to go after Bolton, the procedures used to secure an indictment and the evidence compiled against him suggest a possibly more substantial case than the DOJ brought against Comey.

"This misconduct that's being claimed is simultaneously more serious and seems to have occurred over a considerable duration," said 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 exit, authorities claimed that Bolton placed the country at risk by wrongfully retaining and sending classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the materials were marked top secret.

The charge alleges that at one point a hacker gained access to Bolton's account where documents were kept and sent an apparent threat to cause "the largest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".

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

Retribution or a Substantial Case?

The timing of his charge - coming on the tails of charges against James - has renewed questions about external influence on the justice system.

Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in jail, and called him a "sleazebag". Bolton, for his part, wrote a publication about his experience in the Trump administration that was highly critical of the president.

"Undoubtedly that the schedule of this indictment, when combined with additional cases, has raised doubts about the validity of these allegations, and why these charges are being brought at this time," stated Jamil Jaffer, founder and director of the National Security Institute.

However, he added, "should the Justice Department is capable to prove the allegations stated and show the information is properly designated, his behavior may certainly have broken the statute".

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

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

Similarities to Investigations into Former President and Biden

Trump similarly encountered charges of improperly storing 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 voided by his return as president.

A special counsel additionally found that former President Joe Biden wrongfully stored classified documents from his time as vice president, but failed to prosecute him.

Bolton's situation bears similarities to Trump's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who previously held a top national security role at the Justice Department.

Strict protocols govern the management of classified documents. To win a conviction, 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 obtain it.

"Because of the sensitive character of the material at issue in this case, we lack a great deal of details about why the government believes things like the diary entries and the additional information he communicated by email, and why there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.

A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution

The procedure by which the Justice Department brought this case will be under scrutiny, following Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his political opponents charged and some of those indictments came to fruition.

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

"This Bolton case and eventually the charge appeared to have followed the standard process including the rules and standards within the DOJ," he said.

In contrast to Comey's short, concise indictment, Bolton's was a increasingly "conventional" filing that "explicitly sets forth the details involving the facts and situation here," Mr Lesko said.

"It appears reasonably aligned with a series of precedents... where public servants improperly handled and shared sensitive information."