The inspector general is examining Attorney General William Barr’s unusual intervention in the criminal case against Donald Trump’s longtime adviser.

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has opened an investigation into Attorney General William Barr’s unusual intervention in the criminal case against Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longtime adviser.

A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed that the agency’s Office of Inspector General is looking into Barr’s move in February to seek a lighter sentence for Stone after rank-and-file prosecutors and an acting U.S.

Barr’s decision to overrule the line prosecutors who persuaded a jury to convict Stone on seven felony counts drew loud choruses of condemnation from Democrats and many members of the legal community, who accused the attorney general of doing a political favor for a longtime ally of the president.

He said that the seven-to-nine-year proposal was obviously excessive under the circumstances and in view of the judge’s ultimate decision to sentence Stone to three years and four months — about half what prosecutors originally recommended.

The attorney general acknowledged that the recommendation was changed after Trump tweeted his condemnation of the original proposal, but Barr said he had told colleagues to revise the court submission before Trump weighed in.

One of the prosecutors who remained in the government but dropped out of the case, Aaron Zelinsky, testified to the House Judiciary Committee in June that prior to the initial sentencing recommendation, the prosecutors came under intense political pressure to soften their recommendation for Stone