The publisher denies having released the congressman’s book that sparked the uprising in Congress

NY – A book that Senator Josh Hawley plans to publish, who objected to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and backed up unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, was canceled by the publishing house following the uprising in the federal Capitol by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump, a decision the Republican senator called “Orwellian” and warned he would challenge it.

Simon & Schuster made this known in a statement released on Thursday After witnessing Wednesday’s troubling and deadly uprising in Washington, DC, Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Josh Hawley’s next book, ‘The Tyranny of Big Tech’.

“We did not come to this decision lightly,” the company added. “As a publishing house, our mission will always be to strengthen a variety of voices and points of view: at the same time, we take our even greater public responsibility as citizens seriously, and we cannot stand behind Senator Hawley after the role he played in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom ”.

Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington on Wednesday to protest the formal certification of Biden’s victory by Congress, and many ended up storming the Capitol and occupying it for hours, delaying the trial until early Thursday morning. A much-viewed photo, taken before the occupation, shows Hawley raising his fist in solidarity with the crowd.

Hawley has often been cited as a possible future presidential candidate, and his book, scheduled for publication in June, is intended as a forum for a hot topic: the unnecessary power of Google, Facebook and other internet giants.

Shortly after news broke that the publisher had canceled the book, Hawley tweeted – addressing his comments directly to Simon & Schuster – that he was being unfairly censored and punished, “This couldn’t be more Orwellian … it was me representing my constituents, leading a full Senate debate on the integrity of voters, which they have now redefined as incitement ”.

“Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It’s a direct attack on the First Amendment (constitutional) … I’ll fight this culture of cancellation with everything I have. We’ll see you in court, ”he warned.

Simon & Schuster soon made another statement: “We are confident that we are acting fully within our contractual rights” by canceling the book.

The company has had numerous feuds with Trump and his supporters in recent years. He canceled a deal with far-right writer and commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and published several anti-Trump “ bestsellers, ” including cousin Mary Trump’s book “ Too Much and Never Enough ” and former advisor “ The Room Where It Happened. ” National Security Officer John Bolton.

The publishing houses in New York have already expressed their reluctance to agree to the publication of Trump’s post-presidential memoir, the text of which ‘Crippled America’ was published by Simon & Schuster in a 2015 issue, and this week’s events make that much less likely that the agent will reach an agreement with the company. A spokesman for Simon & Schuster declined to comment on whether the company would be interested in a new Trump book. Messages left with Penguin Random House, the publisher of Trump’s hit book “The Art of the Deal,” and HarperCollins Publishers were not immediately answered.