Powerful House Judiciary Chairman applauds Trump Cabinet picks: 'Freedom gets bigger!'

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Friday roundly applauded President-elect Donald Trump's picks so far for his Cabinet, saying they sent a strong message to the American people that his next tenure will be about "expanding freedom."

In a wide-ranging interview with Just the News, Jordan expressed particularly excitement for Trump's pick of former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to be the next Director of National Intelligence, saying he was hopeful she could be key to achieving long-awaited reforms of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spying.

Jordan nearly succeeded in the last year in getting a requirement that U.S. intelligence and the FBI get a court-ordered warrant to spy on Americans' phone calls overseas.

The measure failed in a tie vote, and Jordan said he plans to reintroduce the warrant requirement when the new Congress convenes in January.

"Having Tulsi at ODNI. I mean, she's a champion of the First Amendment," Jordan told the Just the News, No Noise television show.

"This is what I love so much about President Trump's election, he is putting people in these Cabinet agencies, nominating people who have the attitude the American people elected, that American people voted for, which is we're going to go serve the people, protect their liberties, make government actually more efficient smaller, working for the country and protecting their rights," he added. "That I think is great, and Tulsi believes in the First Amendment, free speech and freedom."

The Ohio Republican also applauded the selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another Democrat, to be Health and Human Services Secretary, predicting he would increase freedom of debate in medicine, thwart growing censorship and expand choices in health policy.

"I think freedom gets bigger, and that's what what I care about," Jordan said. "RFK Jr. is about freedom, expanding freedom. ... I'm focused on freedom and and making sure Americans get the right information, good information."

Jordan also predicted Trump's new picks would force the Justice Department and FBI to focus more on solving crimes and arresting threats and less on ideological crusades.

"The DOJ can spend time investigating moms and dads at school board meetings. The FBI can spend time writing a memorandum in the Richmond field office saying, if you're a pro-life Catholic, you're an extremist," he said.

"But they can't tell us answers to those questions. They can't tell us who planted the pipe bombs on January 6. They can't tell us who leaked the Dobbs opinion. They can't tell us who put cocaine at the White House. For goodness sake. Maybe get some answers to those questions," he said.

"That's what I think has to change and will change with the people with President Trump running the executive branch, and the people he's nominating for these key positions," he added.