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Evidence assembled against a rioter who allegedly stormed the Capitol on January 6 includes lengthy passages from a book he self-published on Amazon called January 6 Redux: A Patriot’s Story, which the feds are using to assign motive to the man and assemble evidence against him, according to newly filed court records.
The Statement of Facts filed by the FBI in the case claims that Nathan A. Thornsberry published January 6 Redux: A Patriot’s Story under the poorly-disguised pen name “Nathaniel Matthews.” The FBI identified “Matthews” as Thornsberry because the Facebook profile promoting the book was named “Nathan Thornsberry (Nathaniel Matthews)” and subpoenas filed with both Facebook and Amazon returned information that tied the penname to Thornsberry. The book was deleted off of Amazon over the weekend, but the page for an earlier version, called January 6: A Patriot’s Story, is still up.
Thornsberry is charged with six crimes, including assaulting an officer, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
January 6 Redux: A Patriot’s Story was originally published as a 103-page paperback on Amazon and is now available only as an ebook. Its listing promises “the eyewitness account of the events of January 6th, 2021. For over a year, the mainstream media and establishment politicians have created a narrative of a violent and coordinated insurrection. The reporting has been selective and misleading. The author gives his opinion on what motivated hundreds of thousands if not millions of protesters to journey to the nations capitol [sic], recalls what he saw and experienced that day, and shares his thoughts on the aftermath.”
The FBI specifically wrote that the book explains Thornsberry’s motivations for going to the Capitol:
“The book also includes statements by Thornsberry relevant to his motive for participating in the events of January 6. For example, Thornsberry wrote: ‘I sense an internal threat, a threat that played a significant role in the deterioration of the war on terror, perverting it and turning it inward towards our own citizens. It is a threat to our way of life, to our freedoms, and to our constitution. A shadowy organization has infiltrated our society, our institutions, and not just in the United States, but across the world – our schools, universities, intelligence agencies, our news and our entertainment, and our elected officials at both the state and federal levels’ (p. 10). Thornsberry described going to the Ellipse on January 6th. ‘I was excited about the Trump rally, but the Stop the Steal protest was what I came for’ (p. 50). As he reflected on the events of January 6th after describing his conduct at the Capitol, Thornsberry wrote that he believed that ‘the events were orchestrated to complete the steal of an election, to discredit a portion of the population who were aware of the truth, and to justify the government’s strong-arm tactics in silencing them” (pp. 84-85).’”
The FBI also said that Thornsberry described events that are directly related to his charges, and alleges that what Thornsberry wrote in the book contradicts video footage from police body cameras: “As tension escalated, Thornsberry could sense violence was coming. He believed police were preparing to attack protesters. Thornsberry moved to the front near the barrier in order to protect an old man and a young woman. As he shielded them, Thornsberry was struck with metal batons and sprayed with pepper spray (pp. 63-64). As the crowd surged in response to police flash grenades and gas canisters, Thornsberry was pushed ‘…tight to the police line, and stood me up’ (p. 65). Note that this account that Thornsberry was involuntarily forced against the police line is inconsistent with both the video evidence detailed below—which shows Thornsberry voluntarily pushing against the police line with no one blocking his exit—and with his own description of his conduct provided to the Lower West Terrace interviewer on January 6.”
Though January 6 Redux: A Patriot’s Story is no longer available on Amazon, Thornsberry’s other works, which are children’s book adaptations of Windsor McKay’s Little Nemo’s Journey to Slumberland, are still available in various languages. Thornsberry also published a book called Dakota Black: or ‘The Dragon,’ which he lists as being coauthored with Moby Dick author Herman Melville, who died in 1891.
