When it mattered most, Nixon and his crew found that people who might have been political allies in the past were not especially sympathetic to his case.

Dearie, 78, a former chief judge of the federal court in the Eastern District of New York, was one of the special master candidates suggested by Trump whom the Justice Department did not object to.

The Justice Department said Monday that it was willing to accept one of Donald Trump's picks for an independent arbiter to review documents seized during an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last month.

The sides disagree on whether there should be a special master at all, and how the document review actually should work. Former U.S. attorney Chuck Rosenberg discusses their possible considerations.

Late Friday, lawyers for former President Trump and the Department of Justice released different names for who they would want to review documents found in the court-authorized search of Trump's club.

A judge has granted Donald Trump's request for an independent review of materials seized from Mar-a-Lago. A special master says that the primary qualification is remaining neutral, which isn't easy.