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Ahead of the joint congressional session to nationally certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory over outgoing President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced he'd back House GOP objections to the validity of the electoral votes in a number of swing states, forcing these results into separate House and Senate debates.
Hawley's announcement was met with widespread derision—even from Walmart—for further amplifying the President's lies that widespread voter fraud coordinated by Democrats awarded Biden a false victory.
During the joint session this past Wednesday, pro-Trump extremists who'd bought into these lies stormed the United States Capitol, forcing the Vice President to evacuate and lawmakers to take refuge in offices and behind chairs as the mob paraded freely through the people's house.
Five people died during the siege, which also left windows shattered and congressional offices ransacked.
While Hawley condemned the violence, he faced widespread outcry for the role he played in validating the lies that started it.
This led Simon & Schuster, the publishers of Hawley's upcoming book, to cancel their publication agreement.
pic.twitter.com/NdIkmGbCFI
— Simon & Schuster (@simonschuster) January 7, 2021
The publishing company said in a statement that they couldn't support Hawley "after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom."
Hawley himself took to Twitter in response,, claiming that a private company refusing to publish his book was a violation of First Amendment rights.
He said he intended to sue the company.
My statement on the woke mob at @simonschuster pic.twitter.com/pDxtZvz5J0
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 7, 2021
Referring to Simon & Schuster as the "woke mob," Hawley deployed common conservative complaints that the Left is canceling them.
Firebrand Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) rebuked Hawley's statement on Twitter.
You fist-pumped insurrectionists and baselessly attacked our elections. Your actions fueled a riot and you fundraised in the chaos. Five people are dead.
Even your GOP colleagues have distanced from your acts.
Yet here you are crying over a book deal. You should be expelled. https://t.co/9Xn8T9vol4
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 8, 2021
She called for Hawley's expulsion from the Senate, after already calling for Trump's, Hawley's, and Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) resignations for their rhetoric leading up to the riots and their rejection of the electoral votes. The Congresswoman—colloquially known as "AOC"—alluded to a moment when Hawley raised his fist in solidarity with the supporters before the riots began.
People praised Ocasio-Cortez's firm response.
Tell the truth, and say it plain. https://t.co/FfyXnXYJ5O
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) January 8, 2021
I`m with @AOC on this. https://t.co/jfBnsfbxfm
— Rick Barger (@espwapouJacmel) January 8, 2021
She ain't wrong. 👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/Gxnz9CZPMk
— Chattanooga Holler (@NoogaHoller) January 8, 2021
Thank you, Congresswoman. Those are my sentiments as well. https://t.co/CkLizF2HhT
— KATHY (@kathy33420) January 8, 2021
The Congresswoman wasn't the only one to condemn Hawley's complaints about the loss of his publisher.
The man who tried to cancel millions of Black votes whines about cancel culture. Of all the politicians I've known, I've never come across a more complete fraud than @HawleyMO. https://t.co/KOi6ut3hTE
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) January 8, 2021
This doesn't violate the First Amendment, which he must know. But part of woke populism, Hawley's act, is a willingness to make fantastically disingenuous claims to achieve maximum victimhood. https://t.co/xS2EaVPLq3
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 8, 2021
It's Orwellian, just not in the way you think. George Orwell took a bullet in the neck fighting fascists in Spain because he hated them so much. Canceling fascists was his thing. So yeah, this is Orwellian. https://t.co/3b6oBWp4V2
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) January 8, 2021
How is it that his condemnation of an imaginary mob is harsher than against the actual mob? https://t.co/b8pXYHhNIB
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) January 8, 2021
So, *not* the kind of mob you raise your fist in solidarity with? Right?
I guess you reserve those gestures for mobs that beat a cop to death with a fire extinguisher. https://t.co/ymBEQypHw8
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) January 8, 2021
The Senator has yet to respond.