State Department Official Unmasked As White Nationalist Leader
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Aiden Pink August 7, 2019
A State Department official has been leading a secret online life as a white nationalist leader and writer, the Southern Poverty Law Center claimed in an investigation.
Matthew Q. Gebert works as a foreign affairs officer in the department’s Bureau of Energy Resources in Washington. But over the past few years, according to the SPLC, he hosted meetings of white nationalists in his home, appeared on hate-filled podcasts and published numerous articles and social media posts promoting white nationalist ideas.
Several sources told the SPLC that they had attended meetings at Gebert’s home in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. And two said that Gebert was present at an invite-only dinner with the infamous Holocaust denier David Irving, where they allegedly discussed the “Jewish question,” which refers to the false belief of Jewish world domination and what white people should do in response. “There was one gentleman, whom I will not name, that could have been from State,” Irving admitted to the SPLC.
Gebert reportedly used the pseudonym “Coach Finstock” in his writings and podcast appearances, and operated several Twitter accounts on that name. One of his accounts was previously called @MQGeb and @MQGebert before it was changed to hide his identity. Gebert’s neighbors also told the SPLC that Coach Finstock’s voice in his podcast appearances sounded like Gebert. Coach Finstock claimed to have been present at the 2017 “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and frequently railed against Jews and African-Americans.
Gebert’s wife Anna Vuckovic also appeared to have been involved in the so-called “alt-right,” going by the name Wolfie James. One article by James ranked PBS children’s TV shows by how much “Jewish influence” they had.
Gebert joined the State Department in 2013 through the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship program. A State Department spokesperson said the agency 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.” Gebert and Vuckovic did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
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