The man who established Sidney Powell’s ‘Kraken war chest’, who is the great-great-grandson of the founder of Dow Chemicals, has been banned from Twitter for hate speech after he said ‘transgender is a joke’.
Robert Matheson’s social media accounts are full of far-right posts including sharing #BanTheBurka comments and throwing his support behind conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer who has made repeated anti-Muslim comments.
In one incident in April, Matheson tweeted Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler writing: ‘Transgender is a joke. A mental illness and needs to be addressed elsewhere. Don’t normalize sickness.’
He shared the post on Gab – which has fast become a platform of choice for right-wing extremism and hate speech, making headlines for allowing Robert Bowers to post anti-Semitic rhetoric on the site before he went on a shooting rampage that left 11 dead in 2018.
Matheson wrote that his account had been permanently suspended from Twitter ‘for telling the truth’ and added that ‘we have to take back out country. reassert our rights!’ alongside the image of Twitter’s suspension notice.
Matheson has now emerged as the person behind Sidney Powell’s Legal Defense Fund for the American Republic, put in place to try to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election win and declare Donald Trump the winner.
Robert Matheson (above), the man who established Sidney Powell’s ‘Kraken war chest’, is the great-great-grandson of the founder of Dow Chemicals and has been banned from Twitter for hate speech after he said ‘transgender is a joke’
Lawyer Sidney Powell (right with Rudy Giuliani) was named by Trump as a member of his legal team last month before being booted out
Powell was named by Trump as a member of his legal team last month, when she pushed a conspiracy theory involving Venezuela, China, and Cuba and voting machines she claimed had ‘flipped’ votes from Trump to Biden.
She described the case she was mounting as a ‘Kraken’ that, when released, would blow Biden’s win out the water.
The former attorney for Michael Flynn quickly became a central figure in Trump’s legal challenges, pushing the president’s unfounded claims of election fraud, but was unceremoniously and just as quickly booted out of the team soon after.
Despite no longer working with Trump, Powell is continuing to raise legal challenges to try to stop the certification of ballots in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – states where Biden clinched victory from Trump.
And according to Matheson’s website RRMatheson.com, the self-proclaimed ‘patriot’ ‘works with Sidney Powell and the Legal Defense Fund for the American Republic to defend against election fraud’.
Listed under his site’s ‘brand assets’ is the Election Integrity Fund for the American Republic which lists Sidney Powell’s defense fund ‘Defending the Republic’ in its portfolio.
Defending the Republic is the same website that Powell urged people to donate funds to fight the election result in an interview with Fox last month.
‘People can donate to the fund because I want this fraud fully prosecuted on behalf of the voters and the American people that deserve election integrity and to know that their legal votes count and were not eradicated by fraud or by illegal votes of other people,’ she said, directing viewers to the website which appeared to go online the same day.
And according to Matheson’s website RRMatheson.com, the self-proclaimed ‘patriot’ ‘works with Sidney Powell and the Legal Defense Fund for the American Republic to defend against election fraud’
‘And it’s just gonna take a much more vigorous effort than I see being conducted right now.’
There is little information about the organization on the website other than that it is listed as a 501(c)(4) group – a tax-exempt non-profit that promotes social welfare.
Powell did not immediately return to DailyMail.com’s request for comment but she told The Daily Beast Matheson is no longer involved in the Legal Defense Fund for the American Republic.
Powell told the outlet Matheson had volunteered to ‘get it all started for me’ but he was no longer connected to the organization.
It is not clear why the two have reportedly parted ways.
DailyMail.com has also reached out to Matheson for comment about his connection to Powell’s legal action.
Matheson describes himself as a brand architect, entrepreneur, publisher, strategist, designer, creator, father and patriot on RRMatheson.com.
He writes that he grew up in The Plains, Virginia, before studying history at George Mason University, followed by architecture and art history at the University of Virginia and then attending Kogod School of Business at American University.
Matheson was born into a family of famous connections. He is a descendant of Herbert Henry Dow (left), the man who founded the Dow Chemical Company in 1897. His grandmother was philanthropist and Dow heiress Ruth Buchanan (right)
His grandfather Wiley T. Buchanan was also a relative of the 15th President of the United States James Buchanan (above)
Matheson was born into a family of famous connections.
He is a descendant of Herbert Henry Dow, the man who founded the Dow Chemical Company in 1897 which went on to become one of the largest chemical producers in the world.
His grandmother was philanthropist and Dow heiress Ruth Buchanan who was a fixture on the Washington and Rhode Island social scene before her death last year aged 101.
Buchanan mingled with world leaders alongside her husband and Matheson’s grandfather Wiley T. Buchanan Jr., who became minister to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and later State Department protocol chief during the Eisenhower administration.
Wiley T. Buchanan was also a relative of the 15th President of the United States James Buchanan.
With Matheson’s grandfather working in the White House and Matheson’s distant relative a former president, the brand architect’s social media accounts and ties to Powell’s campaign suggest he is also trying to find an in to the seat of government.
Matheson’s social media accounts are full of far-right posts and he was banned from Twitter for anti-trans comments (above)
On Parler – another platform popular with the far-right – Matheson has shared and written several posts in support of Trump’s election legal fight and pushing the president’s unfounded claims of voter fraud
In another he shared a Parler post, by a user named @TheDonaldTrumpJr, and wrote ‘fair and free elections. All legal votes must be counted’
In 2016, he reposted a Gab post that read: ‘We wouldn’t allow people to walk down the street in balaclavas or KKK outfits, so why should we allow the burka? #Bantheburka’
On Parler – another platform popular with the far-right – Matheson has shared and written several posts in support of Trump’s election legal fight and pushing the president’s unfounded claims of voter fraud.
In one post he claimed to be ‘working with the Trump team’ in Philadelphia.
‘Hopefully some of you all amplify this message, but I want you to know, I have been working with the Trump Team here in Philadelphia and the amount of fraud and rotten illegal activity here and with the electronic voting process is going to be brought to light and ultimately prosecuted,’ he wrote in a post on Parler.
In another he shared a Parler post, by a user named @TheDonaldTrumpJr, and wrote ‘fair and free elections. All legal votes must be counted.’
Matheson is also a longtime donor to the Republican Party and welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to his family home in Rhode Island in 2016 for a fundraiser, reported the Daily Beast.
Matheson describes himself as a brand architect, entrepreneur, publisher, strategist, designer, creator, father and patriot on RRMatheson.com
Matheson reportedly works with Sidney Powell and the Legal Defense Fund
His other online posts show far-right, anti-Muslim and anti-trans sentiments.
In 2016, he reposted a Gab post that read: ‘We wouldn’t allow people to walk down the street in balaclavas or KKK outfits, so why should we allow the burka? #Bantheburka’.
The same year he also requested @Ricky_Vaughn99 follow him – the infamous account that openly embraced hate group leaders.
Matheson has also repeatedly shown support for Laura Loomer, the GOP congressional candidate famously banned from several social media sites for anti-Muslim posts.
In November 2018 Loomer was accused of hate speech when she called Representative Ilhan Omar ‘anti-Jewish’ – which led to her being removed from Twitter.
‘Isn’t it ironic how the twitter moment used to celebrate ‘women, LGBTQ, and minorities’ is a picture of Ilhan Omar?’ Loomer tweeted about the Democratic Minnesota congresswoman.
‘Ilhan is pro Sharia Ilhan is pro-FGM Under Sharia, homosexuals are oppressed & killed. Women are abused & forced to wear the hijab. Ilhan is anti Jewish.’
This year, Matheson set up The Foundation for the American Republic, a non-profit for right-wing influencers and journalists, and he currently sits on its board.