Trump's DOJ staring down another loss in a high-profile case against foe: expert

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice may be staring down another loss in a high-profile case against one of his political foes, according to one expert.

On Thursday, CNN reported that John Bolton, the first Trump administration's national security advisor, had entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over a case stemming from classified information that was contained in his memoir. Tom Dupree, a former deputy assistant attorney general, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that the Trump DOJ will likely see the case as a loss because Bolton will likely avoid serving time and may only be punished with probation.

Collins noted that recent cases involving former government officials similar to Bolton's ended with the officials paying a fine and receiving one or two years of probation.

"That is something that will not escape the attention of the district judge," Dupree said. "When judges make these sorts of sentences, they look at comparable cases. They try to see how the Justice Department prosecuted similar cases in the past. And so the fact that people who did at least arguably the same type of stuff got suspended sentences or probation, that sort of thing, that will be very significant to the judge."

"At the same time, you can see the Trump Justice Department pushing hard for at least some sentence of incarceration on John Bolton," he added. "My suspicion is that, from the Justice Department's perspective, if all Bolton gets is probation, they will view that as a loss."