WASHINGTON — Top Justice Department officials came under fire Wednesday for jettisoning a recommendation by career prosecutors that Roger Stone, a longtime confidante of President Donald Trump, receive a stiff prison sentence.

Democrats called for investigations into the reversal, which led four career prosecutors Tuesday to dramatically withdraw from the case. Former federal prosecutors said the department appeared to have either botched its oversight of the prosecution or abandoned decades of independence to help a friend of Trump’s.

Either way, they said, the Justice Department suffered a serious blow to its reputation in withdrawing recommendations that Stone, a longtime Republican operative and self-proclaimed dirty trickster, be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison for obstructing a House investigation, witness tampering and lying to Congress.

“It’s a disaster,” said Mary McCord, who spent two decades as a federal prosecutor. “The department has no credibility left.”

Stone is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20.

Democrats will get their chance to question Attorney General William Barr next month. The House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that Barr, after a monthlong standoff, had agreed to testify March 31.

Trump praised Barr and the Justice Department on Wednesday for dialing back the sentencing recommendation for Stone.