U.S. Senate confirms William Barr as attorney general

The U.S. Senate confirmed William Barr as attorney general on Thursday, installing a seasoned lawyer with decades of Washington experience to head the Justice Department and making him in charge of overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's long-running probe into whether President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

The Senate voted 54 to 45, largely along party lines. He could be sworn into the post before week's end. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andy Sullivan Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)