Senate approves Trump's attorney general Sessions despite controversial hearings

The US Senate has voted to confirm Jeff Sessions as the country's attorney general, despite a series of divisive hearings in which Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren was stopped from reading a letter by Coretta Scott King.

Senator Sessions was chosen by President Donald Trump and faced difficult questions from Democrats in the chamber on his attitude towards civil rights.

Warren was silenced on Tuesday as she attempted to read the 1986 letter from Marin Luther King's wife, which accused Sessions of discrimination towards black voters.

"There is no greater honour than to represent the people of Alabama in the greatest deliberative body in the world," Sessions said following his confirmation.

"I appreciate the full debate we've had and thank those afterwards who found sufficient confidence to cast their vote to confirm me as the next attorney general," he added.

His appointment was approved by the narrow vote of 52-47, in another extremely partisan poll after Betsy DeVos scraped through as education secretary following a tiebreak intervention from Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump's nominees to his administration have taken far longer than traditionally has been the case to be confirmed, and the President attacked the Democrats on Wednesday, calling the delays a "disgrace".

"It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats!" Trump tweeted.