“One day, a mom spoke at a school board meeting, and then the next day, she was making peanut butter and jelly in her house, and the FBI called her to talk about what she had said,” Justice said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “It was shocking. It was meant to chill the speech of American parents.”

That incident was followed by multiple FBI investigations into protesting parents during the Biden administration, which Justice argues is the kind of behavior that Patel would stop.

“Kash is unapologetic about the fact that there needs to be big change” at the FBI, she said. “The fact that the FBI was weaponized against the American people and parents is outrageous, and should never, ever happen again. I think Kash will very directly handle that issue.”

Patel’s nomination has caused a stir in Washington, with some Democrats even referencing it to call for preemptive pardons for President Joe Biden’s allies.

Patel, a former Justice Department prosecutor who was chief of staff to former acting Trump Defense Secretary Christoper Miller, has been criticized for statements concerning President-elect Donald Trump’s detractors, including a list of 60 people who he claimed in his 2023 book Government Gangsters were part of the “deep state.”

He was also deputy director of national intelligence during Trump’s first administration, which Justice said will prepare him for a bigger role in the second.

“He’s incredibly intelligent, he’s an amazing patriot,” Justice said of Patel. “He’s done extensive work in Congress, and I think he’s going to do well.”

Justice herself was a rumored candidate for education secretary, a nod that ultimately went to Linda McMahon. Nonetheless, Justice describes herself as a full-throated supporter of McMahon and the work she will do leading the department.

“I’ve seen the work that she’s done with [America First Policy Institute], and they care very much about putting America first,” Justice said. “That’s what moms and dads in America want. We want parents back in the driver’s seat when it comes to their kids’ education. And I have no doubt that Linda is going to help us to do that.”

Justice interviewed Trump during the Moms for Liberty “Joyful Warriors” summit in August, an event that also featured former Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence.

A New York native and a mother of four, Justice said Trump reminds her of her late father, who also grew up in the outer boroughs of New York.

“There’s a large segment of the American population that hadn’t gotten to see President Trump as a man, as a father, as a grandfather,” Justice said. “I think the media has worked really hard to villainize him and to make him radioactive. And I know what that looks and feels like, because it’s been done to Moms for Liberty.”

Following her interview with Trump, Justice became one of his more memorable partners in the “Trump dance,” with the clip of the two making the rounds on the internet ever since.

“I would literally drop to my knees with tears running down my cheeks if this happens,” said a Wisconsin parent to me upon learning that @realDonaldTrump is contemplating the appointment of @4TiffanyJustice, the innovative co-founder of the grassroots organization @Moms4Liberty,… https://t.co/K4Qn9MNxIN pic.twitter.com/FHzzhapzE0

— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) November 17, 2024

“I was the coolest mom” after the dance went viral, she recalled. “There’s no question about it. … The kids thought it was awesome, and I thought it was really great, too, because it was being shared. I guess one of Barron Trump’s friends shared it on social. And then it became a thing with kids my daughter’s age, 19, 20, 21.”

Justice said the dance, which has now been taken up by NFL players, UFC fighters, and even a few golf and soccer stars, is emblematic of Trump’s status as a cultural phenomenon.

“You need somebody who’s going to capture the hearts and minds of the American people,” Justice said. “So when you see football players dancing the Trump dance, you know you’re winning. … We have to win our culture back. I’ve said this to funders, too: You cannot win a culture war if you are not willing to engage in the culture.”

Founded in the throes of pandemic lockdowns and school closures, Moms for Liberty is now ending its fledgling phase and moving toward something more established and permanent within the conservative movement.

But Justice says the overall mission remains, even as Trump prepares to reenter the White House.

“What I think you’re going to see [in 2025] and in years coming,” Justice said, “are a much more organized and targeted effort by Moms for Liberty members to advance different issues across the country.”