Why the Bolton Case Differs Substantially from Other Former President Critics
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to see critics probed, applying influence on the Justice Department to charge ex FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"We cannot postpone further, it's damaging our reputation and credibility," the president wrote recently in a social media message.
"They impeached me, and charged me (5 times!)" he said, mentioning the four criminal cases he faced after departing the White House in 2021 and James's civil case.
Both have since been charged, in cases that many specialists have said seem to be driven by politics and difficult to succeed in legal proceedings.
But the most recent charges against a presidential opponent, ex national security adviser John Bolton, stand apart, legal experts and ex-prosecutors say.
"In my opinion, contrasting Bolton's charges to Comey's is like equating apples to oranges," said Mark Lesko, a former acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
This Specifics of the Case
Bolton has been formally charged on federal charges pertaining to the supposed mishandling of sensitive materials. Since departing the White House in 2019, he has become a outspoken presidential opponent, even to call him "remarkably ignorant" and unfit for the presidency in his book.
Specialists contend that while there may be political reasons to target Bolton, the methods used to obtain an charge and the evidence compiled against him suggest a potentially stronger legal argument than the Justice Department brought against James.
"These actions that's being claimed is simultaneously more serious 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.
During his tenure as Trump's security advisor, and following his 2019 White House departure, authorities claimed that Bolton placed the country at risk by improperly keeping and transmitting classified information to family members using unprotected methods, including AOL. Some of the materials were labeled highly classified.
The indictment alleges that at a certain time a hacker gained access to Bolton's account where files were kept and transmitted an seeming threat to cause "the largest controversy since Hillary [Clinton]'s emails were leaked".
Bolton pleaded not guilty during a hearing on recently to eighteen distinct charges of improperly handling classified information.
Retribution or a Strong Legal Argument?
The schedule of his indictment - coming on the heels of allegations against Comey - has renewed questions about external influence on the justice system.
Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in prison, and described him a "disreputable person". Bolton, for his role, authored a publication 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 others, has raised doubts about the validity of these charges, and the reason these counts are being filed at this time," said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.
However, he continued, "if the DOJ is capable to demonstrate the allegations alleged and show the information is properly classified, his conduct may certainly have broken the statute".
Prosecuting such a high-ranking official for improperly handling sensitive materials is "uncommon" but not without precedent, said Carrie Cordero, a expert at the Center for a New American Security.
"Situations that involve sensitive materials present challenges to prosecute, but they can and are brought against both junior and high-level personnel, from occasionally," she said.
Parallels to Investigations into Former President and President
Trump similarly faced allegations of wrongfully keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and hindering their recovery, but that matter was ultimately thrown out by a court official and negated by his re-election as president.
A special counsel also determined that former President Joe Biden improperly maintained sensitive materials from his time as second-in-command, but failed to criminally charge him.
Bolton's case bears similarities to Biden's sensitive materials issues, noted Mr Lesko, who also held a senior security position at the Justice Department.
Rigorous procedures regulate the handling of classified documents. To secure a conviction, the government must prove that Bolton was aware the information he was transmitting was classified, and he had to intentionally transmit it to someone not entitled to obtain it.
"Due to the sensitive nature of the information at question in this case, we don't have a lot of particulars about the reasons the prosecution contends things like the diary entries and the other material he communicated by email, and the reason there were classified," explained Mr Jaffer.
A Increasingly Traditional Prosecution
The process by which the Justice Department brought this legal action will be under scrutiny, after Trump publicly expressed his wish to see his political opponents charged and some of those indictments came to fruition.
But Mr Lesko indicated in Bolton's case, authorities appear to have adhered to standard procedure.
"The Bolton prosecution and ultimately the charge appeared to have followed the standard procedure including the regulations and norms within the DOJ," he stated.
Unlike Comey's brief, two-page indictment, Bolton's was a more "traditional" document that "explicitly outlines the particulars concerning the circumstances and circumstances in this instance," Mr Lesko said.
"It appears fairly aligned with a series of cases... where public servants mishandled and transmitted sensitive information."