(Oct. 13, 2025): Southeastern Legal Foundation’s (SLF’s) Kimberly Hermann joins the John Solomon Reports podcast to discuss a legal letter SLF sent to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) urging it to investigate a concerted effort to hide documents from SLF, the courts, and the American people related to the Russia collusion hoax.
SLF explains that back in 2019, SLF asked the FBI, CIA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for any communications regarding the Steele Dossier. The Steele Dossier had been relied on by the intelligence community to support spying on the 2016 Trump campaign by falsely claiming that his campaign was colluding with Russia to rig the election. Since then, the Dossier has been debunked while evidence also shows that it was funded by the Clinton campaign. But at the time, SLF and the American people had many questions that needed answering, so SLF submitted FOIA requests to the agencies seeking relevant documents.
As Hermann explains, despite taking them to court, the agencies came back claiming that they had no responsive documents, except for a single two-page email. SLF was forced to dismiss the lawsuits because the courts accepted the agencies’ representations about their FOIA searches as true. Then, in summer 2025, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified bombshell whistleblower reports showing that “not only did documents exist, but that they were intentionally hidden from us and the courts.” Hermann explains that with this intentional concealment of responsive documents, a fraud was committed on SLF, federal courts, and the American people.
The reports reveal that SLF’s FOIA requests prompted a whistleblower to come forward about the Steele Dossier. Not only did the whistleblower have potentially responsive documents to SLF’s requests, but he or she also realized that the intelligence community was relying on the Steele Dossier to justify spying on the Trump campaign when it had no basis to do so. Hermann adds that the reports also reveal that meetings were held in the Obama White House about the Steele Dossier and that the agencies were using the Steele Dossier to bring about a specific political agenda regarding Trump. She concludes that “there is no way” there are not more communications and that there must be additional documents that were withheld.
OSC has the ability to refer any findings to the White House or the U.S. Attorney General upon investigation. SLF has “every intention” of going back to the courts if the OSC finds that the agencies acted in bad faith and will seek all relevant sanctions against the bad actors.
SLF also caught up with Solomon about some of its other work, including its efforts to defend parental rights and save America’s schools. Hermann explains that in addition to cases like January Littlejohn’s, where her daughter was transitioned in school without her knowledge and which SLF is supporting as an amicus before the Supreme Court, SLF hears from parents in red states constantly where schools are violating Title IX. For example, one school in Kansas is letting boys use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms, and twelve school districts in Alabama are still following the unconstitutional Biden Title IX rule that bans discrimination on the basis of “gender identity.” Hermann states that the Supreme Court is “poised” to hear landmark cases on parental rights, freedom of speech and religion, and more as these issues continue to play out.
Hermann also explains that free speech cases will likely be on the rise for the next several years. SLF has worked with K-12 and college students, including Turning Point USA chapters across the country, for nearly a decade to train and defend their First Amendment rights. In recent years, SLF saw a “disengagement” from college students about defending their rights. But in light of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, there has been a revival of interest and passion for the First Amendment. She explains that SLF will be putting out new guidebooks and training programs on the topic so that everyone is armed with knowledge about their rights.
Listen to the full podcast at JustTheNews.com.