Matthew Robert Warner

This article was contributed by New York City Antifa.

Matthew Robert Warner, the Chief of Staff of the fascist group, Identity Evropa, which recently rebranded as the 'American Identity Movement,' tried hiding his identity when speaking with journalists in May 2017. Matt was more forthcoming two years prior, when he was involved in GamerGate and went to see Milo Yiannopolous speak in Washington, DC.

Date of Birth: April 26, 1996 (Age 22)
Aliases: Matt Wagner, Matthias Hesse
Discord: @Matthias, @Ma77hias https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/user/403
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrwva/ (deleted)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IdentityUS
Email: matthiahesse@gmail.com
Lives: Most likely with Patrick Casey in the DC Metro Area
Works: Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement Chief of Staff

Matthew Robert Warner is the Chief of Staff of the fascist group, Identity Evropa, which recently rebranded as the 'American Identity Movement' shortly after Unicorn Riot leaked the group's Discord chat logs. Matt Warner is a very active and longtime member of Identity Evropa—he identified as a member in early 2017. As Chief of Staff, he was a moderator of the Identity Evropa Discord server and coordinated many of the logistics of Identity Evropa's activism, membership, and technology. He was also the main organizer of both the 2018 and 2019 'Leading our People Forward' Identity Evropa conferences in Kentucky. Matt Warner is prolific in placing Identity Evropa posters and stickers throughout the Washington, DC metro area as well as the state of Virginia. He travels extensively in order to attend Identity Evropa's pop-up activism in various cities. These trips have included New York City on at least two occasions. He also appeared alongside other longtime Identity Evropa members in a key picture taken at the White Nationalist "American Renaissance" conference in July 2017, while Nathan Damigo was still the head of the organization. As an Identity Evropa member, Matt Warner confirmed that he would attend the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" (UTR) rally in Charlottesville, VA, and was involved in the UTR planning chats.

Matt Warner pictured at the white nationalist 'American Renaissance' conference in July 2017, in Burns, TN.

Identification

We were able to identify Matt Warner as the Chief of Staff of Identity Evropa through the Discord leaks published by Unicorn Riot. A screenshot of the staff roster posted by user Sigruna14  shows that "@Ma77hias" is listed as the Chief of Staff.

Screenshot of the Identity Evropa staff roster. The user name listed for the Chief of Staff is @Ma77hias. This user also went by @Matthias.

Around June of 2018, Identity Evropa planned to switch their national chat server from Discord to a communication platform called "Mercury." Matthias posted in Discord asking members to sign up for the service, which was being built by another IE member, James Ambrose Meyer (AKA Procella Eques AKA Quid Est Veritas).

Screenshot of user @Matthias discussing the transition of the National server to Mercury, and asking members to join.

In a discussion about Mercury, a screenshot was posted of what this new communication platform would look like. But more importantly, for our purposes, it attaches a face to the username. The user "Ma77hias" used a picture of himself at the American Renaissance conference in 2017.

A screenshot of what was intended to be Identity Evropa's new communication platform, Mercury. We are able to see the profile picture of user "Ma77hias."

Screenshot linking the user "Ma77hias" to an individual attending the white nationalist 'American Renaissance' conference in July 2017, in Burns, TN.

In researching the alias "Matthias," we came across an episode from the Alt Right podcast, Exodus Americanus, which interviewed "Matthias" about an April 2017 protest in Washington, DC by Richard Spencer and other Alt Right fascists against Trump's intervention in Syria. In this podcast, "Matthias" identifies as a member of Identity Evropa, describes acting as Richard Spencer's security detail, describes the clothes he was wearing that day (a black peacoat and a 'Surf the Kali Yuga' t-shirt), and also describes the antisemitic poster he was holding, "Oy vey, Jared, the goyim know." The podcast also helpfully lists his Twitter account as @fashymatthias (suspended). This corroborates the link between the Discord username "Matthias" to the person pictured in the American Renaissance photo.

Screenshot of the notes for the Exodus Americanus podcast episode in which "Matthias" is interviewed about the April 2017 protest in Washington DC by fascists. In the interview, he describes his appearance at the protest. The podcast notes give his Twitter account as @fashymatthias (suspended).

Screenshot of the archived Twitter account of "@FashyMatthias" (suspended).

Picture of "Matthias" at the April 2017 fascist protest in Washington DC with a "Surf the Kali Yuga" t-shirt and pea coat alongside Richard Spencer. Photo taken from the Angry White Men blog.

Further research on the "Matthias" username helped us uncover that he was fond of a particular fashwave illustration, created by Steam user, "F⊕shy Goym" (unclear if this is "Matthias" or someone else), entitled, "Equality is a False God." "Matthias" used this image as his avatar for multiple social media accounts—@FashyMatthias and @NotMatthiasX1 on Twitter (both suspended), and to a Gravatar account with the alias, "Matthias H" or "Matthias Hesse." This username allowed us to find his email—matthiahesse@gmail.com

Screenshot of an archived tweet by "Matthias" from his @NotMatthiasX1 Twitter account.

Screenshot of "Matthias's" Gravatar profile, with the alias "Matthias H," or "Matthias Hesse."

Through research into a different member of Identity Evropa, we found an Instagram profile of a person who looked very familiar to us. The Instagram username is listed as "mrwva" and shows yet another alias, "Matt Wagner." However, it turns out that Matt is "Matthias's" real first name and he used the correct initials, M. R. W., and state, VA (Virginia) in his Instagram username. Matt deleted his Instagram after the Discord leaks.

Screenshot showing the deleted Instagram profile of user "mrwva." The profile contains Matt Robert Warner's initials and suggests that he is based in Virginia (VA).

We revisited known addresses with ties to Identity Evropa members in Virginia. In October 2017, Atlanta Antifascists published an article on Identity Evropa member Evan Thomas Anderson. Anderson helped organize "Charlottesville 1.0" in May 2017—a precursor event which set the stage for "Unite the Right" several months later. At Charlottesville 1.0, fascists from different groups rallied around a confederate statue in Jackson Park during the day and later held a torch rally in Emancipation Park that night. Most importantly for our purposes though, is that Anderson secured a permit for the Charlottesville 1.0 dinner at yet another park—and supplied an Alexandria, VA address when doing so—620 Washington Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Screenshot of the permit secured by Identity Evropa member Evan Thomas Anderson for the Charlottesville 1.0 dinner arrangements, listing an address in Alexandria, VA.

Research into this address revealed that a Matthew R. Warner was associated with the same address in Alexandria, VA which was listed by Evan Anderson on the Charlottesville 1.0 permit. The Instagram username for "Matthias" is "mrwva" or M.R.W. VA. Further research showed that Matthew Robert Warner also lived in Fairfax, VA and that a Matt Warner worked at the posh Alexandria, VA restaurant, "Vermilion" and attended George Mason University. The restaurant's social media corroborates that Matt Warner worked there several years ago. However, a worker who answered the phone did not recognize the name "Matt Warner," and it appears he is no longer employed there. We were unable to confirm whether Matt Warner went to school at George Mason University, and would welcome any information about it!

Screenshot of a reverse address lookup of the address listed on the Charlottesville 1.0 permit by Identity Evropa member, Evan Anderson, showing that Matthew R. Warner is associated with the same address—620 South Washington Street in Alexandria, VA. This also shows that Matthew R. Warner is associated with an address in Fairfax, VA.

Screenshot from another public directory lookup which reveals the middle name of Matt Warner as Matthew Robert Warner. The listings, from two separate directories, share locations, relatives, and age.

Screenshot of another directory result listing the job and location of Matt Warner, from Fairfax, VA.

Screenshot from the social media of the Alexandria, VA restaurant, Vermilion, showing the Identity Evropa member Matthew Robert Warner, who goes by the aliases "Matt Wagner" and "Matthias Hesse" and posted in the Identity Evropa discord as @Ma77hias or @Matthias.

Further research into Matt Warner's addresses linked him to the same address where Patrick Casey, the Executive Director of Identity Evropa, lived until recently (540 Broad Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22802-4703). Matt Warner was photographed outside of this residence and most likely lived there. Patrick Casey was observed moving out of his Harrisonburg, VA residence on March 31st, 2019 and heading to the new American Identity Movement headquarters which are reported to be somewhere in the DC Metro Area. Considering Matt Warner's ties to the DC area, his role as Chief of Staff, and that he was likely Casey's roommate, it is probable that he has also moved to this new location.

Photograph of Matt Warner, Chief of Staff of Identity Evropa, outside of 540 Broad Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22802-4703. This address is where Patrick Casey, the Executive Director of Identity Evropa, lived until recently

Matt Warner listed his current Twitter account in the Discord logs as @IdentityUS.

Matt Warner, as "Matthias," listing his new Twitter account as the @IdentityUS in the Identity Evropa Discord server.

GamerGate & Alt-Right

Before Matt Warner got involved in Identity Evropa and became a key member of the 'Alt Right,' he was a participant in the GamerGate campaign of 2014-2015. Although Matt has deleted much of his internet presence, some traces remain. One of these early traces is the archived tweet from yet another of his defunct Twitter accounts, @mattstate. In this tweeted photo dated May 1st, 2015, we see him at a GamerGate event in DC with the hashtag "#GGinDC." In other archived posts, Matt retweeted GamerGate icons like Christina Hoff Sommers and Breitbart articles about "progressive vigilantism." GamerGate started and was spread by trolls on Reddit, 4chan, and YouTube. Gamergaters shared bigoted memes and harassed women on social media with death and rape threats. It was Milo Yiannopolous, writing for Breitbart at the time, who helped develop GamerGate into a right-wing movement of young white men steeped in resentment and bigotry. It is Milo Yiannopolous pictured with Matt Warner in 2015 in the archived tweet. A reply on the photo jokes, "Senpai noticed me." Senpai means "teacher" or "master."

Screenshot of an archived tweet from Matt Warner's account @mattstate. He is pictured with Milo Yiannopolous outside a Washington DC GamerGate event in May 2015.

Screenshot of aggregated GamerGate tweets from 2015. Matt Warner's Twitter account, @mattstate, references GamerGate hashtags and figures such as Christina Hoff Sommers.

By January 2017, Matt Warner was fully involved with the Alt Right and identifying as a fascist. In comments found on the fascist website, The Right Stuff (run by Mike "Enoch" Peinovich, a scheduled speaker and attendee of the 2017 Unite the Right in Charlottesville), Matt advocated for "Chad Nationalism," or Alt Right speak for "normie" white nationalism. Revisiting Matt's Twitter account, @FashyMatthias, his bio says he was an "intern" and he posted a link to the Richard Spencer-run blog, Alt Right [dot] com. An "Intern Matthias" was interviewed on Spencer's podcast about "mainstream politics."

Matt Warner replying to a comment by "n****rstomper58" on a blog post by the fascist, Ghoul (AKA Cooper Ward, then Deputy Director of American Vanguard) on the fascist website, The Right Stuff.

Matt Warner was an "intern" at Richard Spencer's website, Alt Right [dot] com.

Matt Warner was entrenched in Alt Right organizing by the time he appeared on the Exodus Americanus podcast discussing the April 2017 Far Right protest in Washington DC attended by fascists such as Richard Spencer and Mike "Enoch" Peinovich. Not only did Matt Warner describe himself as a member of Identity Evropa on the podcast, he shared that he acted as Richard Spencer's "bodyman" along with Greg Conte, who worked with Richard Spencer at Alt Right [dot] com and the National Policy Institute. The "Surf the Kali Yuga" t-shirt Matt Warner described himself as wearing at the protest, depicts the Nazi Totenkopf (death's head) symbol with a pair of sunglasses. The 'Kali Yuga' is a Hindu concept appropriated by fascist writers such as Julius Evola, and is used by fascists as a kind of shorthand for 'modern decadence.' This t-shirt was sold by the fascist group "American Vanguard," which helped organize the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally and changed their name to "Vanguard America." Matt's archived comments on The Right Stuff blog post (seen above) were in response to an article written by Ghoul, AKA Cooper Ward, the Deputy Director of American Vanguard at the time.

Matt Warner appeared with other members of Identity Evropa as well as other notable fascists, such as Richard Spencer, in Washington DC in April 2017, months before "Unite the Right" in Charlottesville.

Matt Warner at an Alt Right rally with Identity Evropa and others, such as Mike "Enoch" Peinovich, in Washington DC in April 2017. Peinovich runs the fascist podcast, The Daily Shoah and also attended and was scheduled to speak at "Unite the Right" in Charlottesville in 2017.

Andrew Anglin, the neo-Nazi who runs the web site The Daily Stormer and is currently ducking multiple lawsuits, declared that the summer of 2017 would be the "Summer of Hate." The bookends of the Summer of Hate both took place in Charlottesville, VA and were dubbed Charlottesville 1.0 and Charlottesville 2.0 (better known as "Unite the Right") in Discord chat logs. Both 1.0 and 2.0 had many of the same elements—a daytime rally around a confederate statue, a tiki torch rally at night, fascist chants, and many of the same fascist and Far Right groups and individuals. Identity Evropa helped organize both, and it was the paper trail for Charlottesville 1.0—a permit secured by Identity Evropa member Evan Anderson—which helped us track down Matt Warner's real name. Matt Warner attended Charlottesville 1.0 alongside other Identity Evropa members and associates, such as Taylor Wilson, who was sentenced to 14 years for disabling an Amtrak train while carrying a cache of weapons in Nebraska.

Matt Warner at 'Charlottesville 1.0,' in May 2017—a daytime rally around the confederate statue in Jackson Park in Charlottesville, VA which ended with a tiki torch photo op that night in Emancipation Park around the statue of Confederate General Lee. To his left is Identity Evropa associate, Taylor Wilson, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for taking over an Amtrak train in Nebraska in order to "save it from black people."

Unite the Right

Identity Evropa was also one of the main organizers of the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA, where antifascist activist, Heather Heyer, was murdered. Identity Evropa is currently a defendant in a lawsuit, Sines v. Kessler, brought by survivors of the violence perpetrated by Identity Evropa and others at "Unite the Right." Matt Warner, as Matthias, was a confirmed participant for "Unite the Right,"and was involved in the UTR planning chats, which have been previously released by Unicorn Riot. In these messages he argued tactics for August 12th, and stated that the known plan for the rally in Emancipation Park was to fight.

Matt Warner confirms his attendance in planning chats for "Unite the Right," and writes messages discussing plans for the rally, which include plans to fight, in June 2017.

Matt Warner, as Matthias, states that the "Unite the Right" rally was intended as way to promote white nationalist ideas and to radicalize conservatives. Matt references "Enoch," AKA fascist propagandist Mike Peinovich, who has been seen with Matt at multiple Alt Right events. Peinovich is the originator of the anti-semitic "echoes" triple-parentheses meme. Mike Peinovich attended and was a scheduled speaker at "Unite the Right."

Matt Warner references UTR speaker and fascist, Mike "Enoch" Peinovich, and his podcast "The Daily Shoah" and the goal of getting conservatives behind "our issues."

In the immediate aftermath of "Unite the Right," with dozens injured and Heather Heyer dead, Matt Warner's opinions on the success of the bloody fascist rally were quite different than what he espouses as the Chief of Staff of Identity Evropa. In tweets captured by the UK rag, The Daily Mail, Matt Warner claims the violent rally and the snowballing controversy surrounding it was "how we win." The massive wave of deplatforming after "Unite the Right," instigated by antifascists and which shamed companies into pulling services for fascist groups, soon had Identity Evropa and Matt Warner talking and organizing differently. Matt Warner, like many others in the Far Right, believed that Donald Trump "essentially defended Unite the Right" when Trump infamously stated there were "very fine people on both sides" in Charlottesville.

Matt Warner's tweets captured by the UK rag, The Daily Mail, stating he believed Trump defended "Unite the Right" and that the deadly fascist violence was "how we win."

Post-Unite the Right

In the Discord logs, Matt Warner's posts illustrate attempts by Identity Evropa to mitigate the fallout from "Unite the Right" by policing the language and actions of their members. Before UTR, Matt used the anti-semitic "echoes" triple parentheses meme, which was banned by the mods in Nice Respectable People Group on Discord. Matt Warner was a moderator/admin of that server.

Matt Warner uses the anti-semitic "echoes meme" in reference to 'international' capitalism in May 2017, months before "Unite the Right."

In this screenshot, user "Asatru Artist" complains about not being able to use the anti-semitic "echoes" meme in August 2018. Matt Warner was a moderator of the Nice Respectable People Group on Discord.

Identity Evropa (as an organization) and Matt Warner (as the Chief of Staff and Discord moderator), became very keen on avoiding association with more forthright fascists and white nationalists in the "Alt Right" or the suggestion the group advocated violence after "Unite the Right." Mere weeks after the horrendous events in Charlottesville, which Identity Evropa and Matt Warner helped organize, Matt posted the rules for the Nice Respectable People group:

Matt Warner, as Discord user "Matthias," posts the new server rules—no discussion of violence or outright references to "the Third Reich" allowed post-"Unite the Right."

Matt Warner was also explicit about the "strategy" behind Identity Evropa's rebranding to more "conventional" fascist activism in the Discord chat logs. He ties it specifically to the fallout after "Unite the Right" in Charlottesville.

Matt Warner, as Discord user "Matthias" discussing the rebranding of Identity Evropa after the violent events in Charlottesville in 2017.

Identity Evropa fell out with many of their fellow co-defendants in the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit. For example, they actively discouraged members from participating or going to Richard Spencer's event at Michigan State University in East Lansing in March 2018. Despite rubbing shoulders with the Traditionalist Worker Party—a now defunct neo-Nazi group often derided as "Larpers" for their more obvious Nazi references—and Richard Spencer at "Unite the Right" (and other rallies), Matt Warner, the Chief of Staff, explains why Identity Evropa expelled members who organized or attended the events at MSU alongside these groups and individuals. That explanation hinges on the group wanting control over its membership and messaging by not "re-associating" with their former co-conspirators.

Matt Warner explains that members who helped organize the Richard Spencer event at MSU were kicked out of Identity Evropa and that the group no longer wants to "reassociate" with the likes of the Traditionalist Worker Party, who co-organized Unite the Right with them.

However, Matt Warner also fell short of the post-UTR attempts at respectability the group tries to enforce. For example, Matt posted in Discord about Ann Coulter's defense of the 2017 "Unite the Right"—where fascists marched with torches on August 11th and beat down people of color in parking garages on August 12th. Even though this kind of organizing by members is grounds for expulsion, Matt cannot help but share his enthusiasm for tiki torch marches with angry white men shouting "Jews will not replace us!" Despite Identity Evropa's careful attention to optics—due to being named in a lawsuit as organizers of a violent and deadly rally—what they really believe and desire still comes shining through their flimsy facade.

Matt Warner gets awfully excited about Ann Coulter's "tasteful defense" of "Unite the Right" in September 2018. He also thinks it is very important that she defended the torch march, which happened on August 11th, the day before the main UTR rally.

This barely held together facade becomes especially flimsy when discussing the attack by James Fields on antifascist counter-protesters that killed Heather Heyer as well as injured and maimed dozens of other people. After Fields was sentenced to life in prison in December 2018, Matt Warner warns Identity Evropa members not to comment publicly on the case, but tells members to "Embrace the suck" of the sentence and to "Surf the Kali Yuga." No one expresses sympathy for Heather Heyer, or the people hurt by Fields, and Matt Warner eventually comments on the logistics of the day and refuses to speculate on what Fields "should or shouldn't have done" that day. (The correct answer is not murder and injure people by driving his car into a crowd).

 

After James Fields was sentenced to life in prison for killing Heather Heyer and injuring others by deliberately driving his car into a crowd of antifascist protesters, Matt Warner tells Identity Evropa members to "embrace the suck" and "Surf the KaliYuga." He does not condemn Fields's actions.

Other Notable Activity

Matt Warner in NYC for the "March Against Sharia" on June 10, 2017.

Matt Warner with Identity Evropa in Alexandria, VA in November 2017. Matt helped organize this flash mob and for some reason told antiracist activist, Daryl Lamont Jenkins, the group was heckled by a churchgoer.

Matt Warner at the March 2018 Identity Evropa "Leading Our People Forward" conference, which he helped plan. He was recognized by IE's leader, Patrick Casey, as the "Member of the Month" in March 2018 for his contributions. Matt also helped organize the 2019 LOPF conference.

Matt Warner claiming responsibility for flyering George Mason University in April 2018.

Matt Warner at the South African Embassy in Washington DC, April 2018. Identity Evropa promotes the fascist propaganda of "white genocide" in South Africa. To his right is New York Identity Evropa member, Jacob Jaeger.

Flyering in Arlington, VA  in May 2018.
- https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/view/1378592?q=#msg

Matt Warner with Identity Evropa at the Mexican Consulate in NYC, July 2018.

Flyering in Washington DC (Georgetown, Outside SCOTUS) in October 2018.
- https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/view/1372044?q=#msg  - https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/view/1371930?q=#msg

Matt Warner with Identity Evropa in Colorado, November 2018.

Matt Warner with Identity Evropa in Chicago, IL in January 2019.

Flyering in Richmond, VA February 2019.
- https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/view/1365356?q=#msg

Summary & Conclusion

Matthew Robert Warner is a prolific member of Identity Evropa and as Chief of Staff, is only second to Patrick Casey in the Identity Evropa hierarchy. He is also a longtime member, and has been with the group throughout various leadership changes—Nathan Damigo, Elliott Kline (AKA Eli Mosley), and Patrick Casey (current). Matt Warner has remained behind the scenes for too long considering his involvement with and proximity to so many different white nationalist groups and figures. He has been involved in Far Right circles since at least 2015, and has appeared at numerous Identity Evropa actions across the United States, including at least two in New York City. He was involved in the planning of the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in 2017 and called the death of Heather Heyer and torch march violence "how we win."

Since "Unite the Right," many high profile figures and groups that made up the Alt Right—such as Richard Spencer, Milo Yiannopoulos, the Traditionalist Worker Party, etc.—have fallen on hard times. Identity Evropa has tried to avoid this fate by disguising their beliefs. However, what Identity Evropa wants and what they advocate for cannot be painted over with a new name or the vigilant policing of language used in chat rooms. Identity Evropa may have rebranded itself as the "American Identity Movement" to further cloak its beliefs, but the leadership and the organization's goals remain the same.