President Trump said to elevate Ajit Pai to FCC chairman

Apparently, President Donald Trump will tap Ajit Pai as his pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission in the new administration, elevating the sitting GOP commissioner to the top spot overseeing the nation's communications industry. The announcement could come as soon as the afternoon of Jan 20, apparently.

Pai, a Barack Obama nominee who has served as the senior FCC Republican for more than three years, could take the new role immediately and wouldn't require approval by the Senate because he was already confirmed to serve at the agency. Pai was widely assumed to be taking the agency’s gavel at least temporarily as an acting chairman at the beginning of Trump’s tenure. But President Trump’s decision to make him a more permanent chairman affords the Kansas-bred Republican a bigger mandate to make his mark on the agency and its rules.