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Unicorn Riot
@UR_Ninja
, 19 tweets, 11 min read Read on Twitter
Two years ago Unicorn Riot started our coverage in Charlottesville amid a violent white supremacist torchlight march. Our coverage:
unicornriot.ninja/2017/white-sup…
Two years ago today we were live on the ground at Unite The Right in Charlottesville.

The violent day represented both the high point and downfall of the then-ascendant alt-right movement.

It ended in tragedy that many still have to live with every day.

unicornriot.ninja/2017/violent-w…
Criminal cases against James Alex Fields, Jr., who carried out the car attack that killed Heather Heyer, finally ended this summer.

Fields received multiple federal & state life sentences.

Many survivors still struggle with injuries and medical debts.

unicornriot.ninja/2019/neo-nazi-…
In the aftermath of Unite The Right, we worked to uncover private organizing records from the neo-nazi groups behind the rally.

Parts 1-9 of our initial #DiscordLeaks series revealed the contents of the official Discord chat used to plan the event:

unicornriot.ninja/2017/charlotte…
The leaked Discord planning chats showed specific plans by Unite The Right attendees for violence against counter-protesters.

The chats have ended up as primary evidence in several lawsuits against the organizers .

unicornriot.ninja/2017/data-rele…
Leaked chats after Unite The Right led us to a group we hadn’t heard of: “Anti-Communist Action” or “Anticom”.

Anticom presented as anti-leftist libertarians but were really trying to be a fascist paramilitary.

Part 1: unicornriot.ninja/2017/anticom-d…

Part 2: unicornriot.ninja/2017/discord-l…
In fall 2017 we also obtained and published leaked chat logs from Vanguard America, another neo-nazi group that helped organize #UniteTheRight.

unicornriot.ninja/2017/southern-…
Immediately after the car attack rumors circulated that James Fields was a member of Vanguard America since he was carrying a shield w/ their logo.

Fields doesn’t seem to have been a member- but the group defended, and identified with, his murderous act.

unicornriot.ninja/2017/southern-…
In the immediate aftermath of August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, several of the racist groups involved collapsed or rebranded.

One member of Vanguard America, Thomas Rousseau, broke off w most Vanguard members to form a new group called Patriot Front:

unicornriot.ninja/2017/southern-…
We would later release a large cache of Discord chats showing Patriot Front’s organizing efforts from late 2017 into 2018.

The leak included leaders of the group sharing gruesome recollections about their time in Charlottesville.

[Content Advisory]

unicornriot.ninja/2018/americans…
In October 2017 we proved that Brian Brathovd, who texted police he was the “highest ranking security” organizer for Unite The Right, was actively serving in the US military at the time.

unicornriot.ninja/2017/richard-s…
Another neo-nazi group involved in Unite The Right was the Traditionalist Worker Party.

TWP dissolved in March 2018 after its leader Matt Heimbach was arrested for domestic violence.

After TWP disbanded we leaked over a year of their organizing chats:

unicornriot.ninja/2018/leaked-a-…
TWP also organized a rally in Pikeville, KY in April 2017, a semi prelude to Unite The Right.

The rally was put on by the ‘Nationalist Front’ which consisted of TWP, Vanguard America, and League of the South.

The Nationalist Front would later dissolve.

unicornriot.ninja/2017/standoff-…
After Charlottesville in August 2017, members of TWP’s discord chat continued to pop up in violent incidents.

One tried to hijack a train: unicornriot.ninja/2018/amtrak-hi…

Another was arrested last week in Vegas for plotting to bomb Jewish and LGBTQ spaces: unicornriot.ninja/2019/man-arres…
The primary organization behind Unite The Right was Identity Evropa.

Eliott Kline aka Eli Mosley, the main organizer of Unite The Right other than Jason Kessler, was IE’s official leader at the time.

In March we leaked 1.5+ years of IE’s internal chats:

unicornriot.ninja/2019/neo-nazi-…
Another more informal Discord chat called ‘Vibrant Diversity’ was involved in the lead-up to Unite The Right.

It included leaders from Nazi groups such as Vanguard America, TWP, Identity Evropa, The Daily Stormer, The Right Stuff, and Counter Currents:

unicornriot.ninja/2018/alt-right…
Last week we exposed that @StateDept official Matthew Gebert posted in the ‘Vibrant Diversity’ Nazi chat.

He also posted in the official Unite The Right chat, confirming his plans to attend the Charlottesville rally that took place two years ago today.

unicornriot.ninja/2019/exposed-s…
A less-known key organizer of Unite The RIght is Erica Alduino (Erika on Discord), who was an Identity Evropa member at the time.

She set up logistics for the rally and used to vet new members for IE.

unicornriot.ninja/2017/data-rele…

Browse her leaked chats: discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/user/1…
Identity Evropa is attempting to shed negative “baggage” from Charlottesville by dissolving & re-forming as a “new” group, the American Identity Movement.

Business records for the “new” group were filed this year using an Identity Evropa email address:

unicornriot.ninja/2019/identity-…
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Unicorn Riot
@UR_Ninja
#BREAKING: Unicorn Riot has confirmed that @StateDept official Matthew Gebert, exposed earlier today by @Hatewatch as a neo-nazi, was active in @Discordapp chats used to plan Unite The Right in Charlottesville.

unicornriot.ninja/2019/exposed-s…
Matthew Gebert’s State Dept career began in 2013 via a “presidential management fellowship” focused on “developing a cadre of potential government leaders.”

His @Discordapp posts include a pro-diversity sign riddled with bullet holes.

unicornriot.ninja/2019/exposed-s…
6/18/2017: State Department employee Matthew Gebert posts in the Charlottesville planning chat to confirm his plans to attend #UniteTheRight:

unicornriot.ninja/2019/exposed-s…
Read 10 tweets
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Unicorn Riot
@UR_Ninja
Large anti-racist block party underway in Pershing Park in Washington, DC to counter-protest the far-right Proud Bous rally happening nearby in Freedom Plaza. A few hundred attendees estimated on either side.
Large group of DC police on bikes formed this new line, then fell back, when a large group marched in to join the anti-racist protest
Here’s the view of the Proud Boy’s “Demand Free Speech” really from Pershing Park. Maybe 200 Proud Boys & supporters, we estimate 4-500 at the #AllOutDC counter rally
Read 22 tweets
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Unicorn Riot
@UR_Ninja
Slouching Towards The Ethnostate: Inside The American Identity Movement

unicornriot.ninja/2019/slouching…

The latest in our series of exposes investigating Identity Evropa digs into what the rebranded neo-nazi group is up to, incl. their July 4 weekend DC plans & other upcoming events.
Our new report on the American Identity Movement (aka Identity Evropa) includes downloadable leaked source materials:

-over a month of screenshots from their chat for vetted members

-official member documents

-7 audio meeting recordings & transcripts

unicornriot.ninja/2019/slouching…
We have more data to process for future reports exposing the inner workings of IE/AmIM & other racist groups. This work takes a lot of time and resources and is only possible thanks to our amazing supporters. Help us continue pursuing these investigations: unicornriot.ninja/support-our-wo…
Read 6 tweets

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☇RiotWomenn☇
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Tim Gionet is a Trump supporter. His family operates Russian Encouragement Ministries.

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Mark Warner
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Two years ago today, white nationalists gathered in #Charlottesville to spread a message of bigotry and intolerance. Their hate-fueled rally culminated in the deaths of three Americans.
Today we remember Heather Heyer, who was killed when a white nationalist drove his car into the crowd of counter-protesters, and Lt. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke Bates, who died in a helicopter crash as they tried to bring stability to the city.
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Integrity First for America
@IntegrityforUSA
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the violence in #Charlottesville, VA. As our suit details, the violence was not spontaneous but, rather, the result of months of online organizing.

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8/11/17: While defendant Jason Kessler had secured a permit for the Unite the Right “rally” on Saturday 8/12, defendants had also covertly planned a torchlight march for Friday night, 8/11. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Keith.
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Nicole Hemmer
@pastpunditry
One of the questions I pursued when working on the A12 podcast, which looked at the history behind the deadly violence in Charlottesville last year, was why the anti-Semitism of Aug 11 & 12 seemed to disappear so rapidly from the narrative. /1
It wasn’t that no one *ever* spoke of it, but given its prominence — chants of “Jews will not replace us,” Nazi flags, the targeting of the synagogue — it seemed to get relatively little attention. /2
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