Coons calls on Cruz and Hawley to resign // Simon & Schuster cancels Josh Hawley’s book, citing Capitol riots

 

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Coons calls on Cruz and Hawley to resign

 

The Delaware Democrat said the two Republican senators who mounted challenges to Biden's victory should step down in the aftermath of the deadly riots in D.C.

 

By MARIANNE LEVINE

01/07/2021 07:23 PM EST

Updated: 01/07/2021 08:55 PM EST

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/07/coons-cruz-hawley-resign-456196

 

One of Joe Biden’s top allies is calling on two GOP senators to step down.

 

During a press conference in Delaware, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), told reporters that Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) “should resign,” according to WBOC, one day after a group of Trump supporters staged a deadly insurrection in the U.S. Capitol.

 

 His calls for Hawley and Cruz’s resignations follow both senators leading separate challenges to Wednesday’s electoral college certification process, echoing President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. In his futile effort to overturn the November election results, Trump urged his supporters to descend upon the Capitol and has refused to concede.

 

Shortly after Cruz challenged Arizona’s results on Wednesday afternoon, the rioters overtook the Capitol building, forcing Congress to halt the certification process of the 2020 election. The riots left several people dead, including a woman who was shot and killed by U.S. Capitol Police. Later in the evening, after the Senate reconvened, Hawley objected to Pennsylvania’s results.

 

Since the insurrection, Cruz and Hawley are facing a backlash from their colleagues, who are accusing them of inciting violence by casting doubt on the results of the 2020 election. Hawley and Cruz have both condemned Wednesday’s violent act. On Thursday morning, Cruz said the Justice Department should “vigorously prosecute” all of those involved and called for a peaceful transfer of power.

 

A spokesperson for Hawley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Cruz, in an interview with KTRK, dismissed Democratic calls for his resignation.

 

“No one should be surprised to be seeing Democrats playing politics and to see them attacking and trying to attack strong conservative leaders,” Cruz said. “I do think it’s really cynical for them to be trying to take advantage of what was a tragic event that occurred yesterday in Washington.”

 

Coons is not the only Democratic lawmaker to call for the senators’ resignations. Earlier Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also said Cruz and Hawley should resign and that the Senate should expel the senators if they refuse.

 

“Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “And how you fundraised off this riot.”

 

Cruz and Hawley aren’t just receiving criticism from Democrats. Former Republican Sen. John Danforth told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that supporting Hawley’s 2018 Senate campaign “was the worst mistake I ever made in my life.” And Simon and Schuster also announced that it would cancel the publication of his forthcoming book.

 

Both senators are widely viewed as potential 2024 contenders.

 

Simon & Schuster cancels Josh Hawley’s book, citing Capitol riots

 

The publishing house said it “cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”

 

By MATTHEW CHOI

01/07/2021 06:25 PM EST

Updated: 01/07/2021 07:06 PM EST

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/07/simon-schuster-hawley-capitol-riots-456152

 

Publishing house Simon & Schuster is canceling Sen. Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book because of the violent riots on Capitol Hill, the company announced on Thursday, prompting the Missouri Republican to threaten legal action.

 

“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 publishing house said in a statement on Thursday.

 

Hawley later called the move “Orwellian“ and a “direct assault on the First Amendment.“

 

“Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition,“ he said in a statement posted on Twitter. “This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don‘t approve of. I will fight this cancel culture with everything I have. We will see you in court.“

 

Hawley was one of the first Republican senators to voice his intention to contest the results of the Electoral College vote in Congress, leading to deliberations in both the House and Senate deep into the early hours of Thursday. His efforts were swiftly condemned by both Democrats and some members of his own party for amplifying President Donald Trump’s provocations that led to the Capitol Hill break-in.

 

Hawley’s book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” was slated to tackle the rise of major tech companies and argue that they “represent the gravest threat to American liberty since the monopolies of the Gilded Age,” according to Simon & Schuster’s website. It was set to be published June 22.