WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - The US Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday (Feb 1) to confirm Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general, sending President Donald Trump's pick to be the chief US law enforcement officer to the full Senate for a final vote.

The Senate panel approved Sessions' nomination on a 11-9 party-line vote two days after Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for directing Justice Department lawyers not to defend the president's order to temporarily ban travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

(This is a developing story.)