State Department official outed as white nationalist leader
A US State Department official has been outed as a white nationalist leader who spread Nazi propaganda and attended the violent rally in Charlottesville, where he wore a hat and sunglasses to avoid being identified, according to a new report.
Matthew Gebert, 38, allegedly used the pseudonym “Coach Finstock” online and in private correspondence with other white nationalists, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch.
Using the alias, he expressed a desire to build a country for whites only, according to the SPLC, which tracks extremist organizations.
“[Whites] need a country of our own with nukes, and we will retake this thing lickety split,” “Coach Finstock” said last year in an episode of “The Fatherland,” a white nationalist podcast, Hatewatch said in a report published Wednesday.
“That’s all that we need. We need a country founded for white people with a nuclear deterrent. And you watch how the world trembles,” he added.
Gebert, who joined the State Department in 2013, works as a foreign affairs officer, a civil servant position, at the Bureau of Energy Resources.
Several sources also named Gebert’s wife, Anna Vuckovic, as “Wolfie James,” a blogger and online personality who also is involved in the white nationalist movement, according to the report.
“Gebert, as ‘Coach Finstock,’ and Vuckovic, as ‘Wolfie James,’ left behind a substantial trail of archived Twitter posts under their pseudonyms,” according to Hatewatch.
Vuckovic denied the allegations when reached by Hatewatch and Gebert has not responded to a request for comment.
Two sources told Hatewatch they spent time at Gebert’s home in Leesburg, Virginia, in 2017 at meetings that included members of the white nationalist movement such as podcaster Michael Peinovich.
Gebert, as “Coach Finstock,” helped lead a DC- and Northern Virginia-based organizing chapter of Peinovich’s The Right Stuff network called “D.C. Helicopter Pilots,” three sources told Hatewatch.
“Coach Finstock” also talked on “The Fatherland” about taking part in the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017, saying he wore a hat and sunglasses to remain incognito.
“I came back in one piece. Un-doxxed. Knock on wood,” Gebert said as “Coach Finstock,” referring to the fact that he managed to avoid being identified during the rally.
“Un-arrested. Just with some mild war wounds that frankly I’m kind of proud of,” he said.
A State Department spokesman told Hatewatch that the department is “committed to providing a workplace that is free from discriminatory harassment and investigates alleged violations of laws, regulations, or Department policies, taking disciplinary action when appropriate.”
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