WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 putting him in charge of overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's long-running probe of whether President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
The Senate voted 54 to 45, largely along party lines. A Justice Department spokeswoman said Barr will be sworn in at 4:45 PM ET in the Oval Office of the White House by Chief Justice John Roberts.