Bill Barr confirmed as US attorney general

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed Bill Barr as the nation's next attorney general, placing him in control of the long-running investigation into President Donald Trump's possible Russia connections. Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Senate voted largely along party lines, 54-45, to confirm Barr to the post, which he had previously held under George H.W. Bush's administration. Trump has attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as a "witch hunt." But Barr said during congressional testimony that he does not agree with that description, and that he would allow Mueller to complete his investigation unimpeded.