Publisher Yanks Hillary Clinton Pastor’s Book over Plagiarism

The publisher of Hillary Clinton’s pastor’s book is yanking the tome — and destroying any existing copies — after it announced it had found additional examples of plagiarism in the devotions the pastor sent to the failed presidential candidate.

Rev. Bill Shillady’s book, Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, consists of the devotions he emailed to Clinton during her unsuccessful White House campaign

However, it was hit by a mini-scandal when it emerged that the devotional he sent to Clinton on the morning after her defeat to President Trump was copied from another pastor.

CNN reported in August that the devotional has a significant resemblance to a blog post by Rev. Matthew Deuel — an Indiana pastor who contacted CNN after he read the email on the outlet’s website when it teased the book.

For instance here is a passage Deuel wrote:

“For the disciples and Christ followers in the first century, Good Friday represented the day that everything fell apart. All was lost. The momentum and hope of a man, claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah who was supposed to change everything, had been executed,” Deuel wrote.

Shillady, meanwhile, wrote: “For the disciples and Christ’s followers in the first century, Good Friday represented the day that everything fell apart. All was lost. The momentum and hope of a man claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah who was supposed to change everything, had been executed.”

Shillady apologized for his copying, but in a statement Wednesday publisher Abingdon Press said that it was “alarmed” to have found more examples of plagiarism and so was pulling the book and destroying existing copies:

Following the discovery of unattributed passages in the November 9 devotional of Strong for A Moment Like This, Abingdon Press initiated an extensive review of the book and was alarmed to discover other content unattributed by the author. Abingdon Press has zero tolerance for plagiarism. Consequently, we have discontinued sales, will remove existing copies from all sales outlets, and will have them destroyed along with our existing inventory.

Shillady apologized again in a statement:

“I deeply regret my actions,” Shillady told CNN. “I was wrong and there is no excuse for it. I apologize to those whose work I mistakenly did not attribute. I apologize to those I have disappointed, including Secretary Hillary Clinton, Abingdon Press, and all the writers and others who have helped me publish and promote this book. I ask for everyone’s forgiveness.”

The pulling of the book puts Clinton in an awkward situation, partly because she wrote the foreword to the book.

Clinton is also scheduled to speak alongside Shillady at a $75-a-ticket event at the Riverside Church in New York City Thursday, promoting the book and talking about her faith. The event was scheduled as a fundraiser to benefit Camp Olmsted. A ticket includes a copy of the now-pulled book.

Breitbart News purchased a ticket to the event and a spokesperson for Abingdon Press said that the event was still on.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter:  @AdamShawNY