Why the case against John Bolton is different from other cases against Trump critics

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to see his critics investigated, pressuring the Justice Department to indict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“We cannot delay any longer. This is damaging our reputation and credibility,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post last month.

“They’ve impeached and indicted me twice (five times!),” he said, referring to the four criminal cases he faces since leaving the White House in 2021 and James’ civil case.

Both men were indicted in a case that many experts see as politically motivated and difficult to win in court.

But the latest charges against former national security adviser John Bolton, a critic of Trump, are separate, legal experts and former prosecutors said.

“Comparing Bolton’s allegations to those of Comey and James is like comparing apples and oranges,” said Mark Lesko, a former acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Bolton was criminally charged with federal charges of mishandling classified information. Since leaving the White House in 2019, he has become a vocal critic of Trump in his memoir, even calling himself “incredibly uninformed” and unfit for office.

Experts say there may be political reasons to pursue Bolton, but the procedures used to secure the indictment and the evidence gathered against him suggest a potentially stronger case than the Justice Department’s case against Comina James.

“The alleged misconduct is more serious and appears to have occurred over a significant period of time,” said Carissa Byrne Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During his time as President Trump’s national security adviser and after he left the White House in 2019, prosecutors alleged that Bolton put the country at risk by using unsecured means, including AOL, to improperly store and transmit classified information to family members. Some of the documents were labeled top secret.

The indictment alleges that at one point, hackers accessed Bolton’s account where the documents were stored and sent explicit threats aimed at causing “the biggest scandal since Hillary (Clinton)’s emails were leaked.”

Bolton appeared in court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of mishandling classified information.

As charges against Comey and James followed, the timing of his indictment renewed questions about political pressure on the justice system.

Trump once suggested Bolton belonged in prison and called him a “sleazebag.” Bolton wrote a book about his time in the Trump administration, which was highly critical of the president.

“There is no question that the timing of this and other prosecutions raises questions about the severity of these charges and why they are being brought now,” said Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.

But he added, “If the Department of Justice can substantiate the allegations and prove that the information was properly classified, it is very likely that his actions violated the law.”

Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said indicting a senior official for mishandling classified documents is “rare” but not unprecedented.

“Cases involving classified information are not easy to prosecute, but sometimes they can and do be brought against both junior and senior officials,” she said.

Trump was also accused of improperly storing classified documents and obstructing their return at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but the case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge and invalidated by the president’s re-election.

The special counsel also found that former President Joe Biden improperly stored classified documents while he was vice president, but did not file criminal charges.

Bolton’s case is similar to the issue of classified documents between Trump and Biden, said Mr. Lesko, who has held a top national security position at the Justice Department.

We handle confidential documents according to strict procedures. To obtain a conviction, the government must prove that Bolton knew the information he was transmitting was confidential and that he knowingly passed it on to a person who was not entitled to receive it.

“Due to the confidential nature of the material at issue in this case, there are not a lot of details about why the government believes the diary entries and other information he relayed by email and why they are classified,” Jaffer said.

How the Justice Department brought this case will be closely scrutinized after President Trump publicly posted his desire to see his political opponents indicted and some of those indictments came to fruition.

But Mr. Lesko said prosecutors seemed to have followed procedure in the Bolton case.

“The Bolton indictment, and ultimately the indictment, appears to have followed regular procedures, including rules and norms within the Department of Justice,” he said.

Unlike Comey’s brief, two-page indictment, Mr. Bolton’s indictment was a more “traditional” document that “clearly sets out the facts and the relevant details of the circumstances,” Mr. Lesko said.

“It appears to be quite consistent with a series of incidents in which government officials mishandled and forwarded classified material.”