Josh Hawley: publisher cancels book in wake of Capitol attack

Publishers have cancelled a planned book by Senator Josh Hawley, who objected to Joe Biden’s presidential election win and backed baseless claims that the vote was stolen.

Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington on Wednesday and many ended up storming into the Capitol building and occupying it for hours, resulting in four deaths and delaying the certification of Biden’s win. A widely seen photo, taken before the occupation, shows Hawley raising a fist in solidarity to the crowd.

In a statement on Thursday, Simon & Schuster announced: “After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington DC, Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, The Tyranny of Big Tech.

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“We did not come to this decision lightly,” the publisher added. “As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”

The Missouri Republican called the decision “Orwellian” and vowed to fight it in court. Hawley has often cited as a possible future presidential candidate and his book was an intended forum for a favourite theme: the undue power of Google, Facebook and other internet companies. Soon after news broke that his book was dropped, Hawley tweeted, and tagged his comments directly to Simon & Schuster, that he was being unfairly censored and punished: “I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition.

“This could not be more Orwellian … Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It’s a direct assault on the First Amendment … I will fight this cancel culture with everything I have. We’ll see you in court.”

Simon & Schuster quickly issued another statement: “We are confident that we are acting fully within our contractual rights.”

Simon & Schuster has had numerous clashes with Trump and his supporters. It called off a deal with the far-right writer and commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and published several anti-Trump best-sellers, including niece Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough and former national security adviser John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened.

New York publishers had already expressed wariness about taking on a post-presidential memoir by Trump, whose book Crippled America was published by a Simon & Schuster imprint in 2015, and this week’s events make a deal with them far less unlikely.

A Simon & Schuster spokesman declined comment on whether the publisher would be interested in a new Trump book. Messages left with Penguin Random House, publisher of Trump’s bestselling The Art of the Deal, and HarperCollins Publishers were not immediately returned.