After family fiasco, TWP's Matthew Heimbach may spend summer in jail
Matthew Heimbach may be spending his summer in jail.
Prosecutors in Kentucky are seeking to revoke a 90-day suspended sentence for Heimbach, the head of the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP), after his arrest following a bizarre incident at his home in Paoli, Indiana, in March.
A hearing is set for May 15 in Louisville, Kentucky. There, a judge will decide if Heimbach’s arrest in Indiana violates the terms of his plea agreement to disorderly conduct. He admitted to striking a protester at a Donald Trump presidential campaign rally in the city in 2016.
As part of the plea agreement signed in July 2017, Heimbach was given a suspended jail sentence and ordered not to get into any more legal trouble for two years.
Prosecutors say Heimbach violated that provision in March.
Police in Paoli said Heimbach attacked his wife and TWP spokesman Matt Parrott after the two confronted him about the affair with Parrott’s wife.
Heimbach is free on $1,000 bail on a battery charge in Indiana.
After the arrest, Parrott announced he was walking away from the group. Parrott was the primary financial benefactor of TWP. Since the arrest, the group’s website has vanished from the internet and TWP’s future remains unclear.
Heimbach has not publicly commented on the incident or the future of the Traditionalist Worker Party.
Heimbach’s wife and Parrott each filed for divorce from their respective spouses.
On May 30 Heimbach is due in to appear in court for a pre-trial conference on the Indiana criminal charges.
Heimbach led the Traditionalist Worker Party and its sister organization, the Traditionalist Youth Network, both of which advocate for racially pure nations and communities and blame Jews for many of the world's problems. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Heimbach became one of the most vocal — though hardly the most influential — white nationalist supporters of then candidate Trump.
A federal civil lawsuit against Trump, Heimbach and multiple others stemming from the violence at the Louisville rally is pending in federal court.
Trump appealed a ruling allowing part of the lawsuit to go forward.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments on the appeal June 6 in Cincinnati.
