Book by Hillary Clinton’s Pastor Pulled Because of Plagiarism

The words he used to console Clinton after her presidential loss were plagiarized.

September 6, 2017 11:17 am
Rev. Bill Shillady
In this Monday, March 10, 2014, file photo, the Rev. Bill Shillady, secretary of the trail court, speaks to the media in White Plains (John Minchillo/AP Photo)

Less than a month after its publication, Rev. Bill Shillady’s book is being pulled from shelves because it is riddled with plagiarism.

Shillady is Hillary Clinton’s longtime pastor. He sent her an email the morning after she lost the 2016 presidential election, and she has said that the words helped her heal, writes the Washington PostBut when that email was published in a book months later, Indiana pastor Matt Deuel recognized the words as nearly identical to his own.

Abingdon Press, the book’s publishing company, reviewed the book and found other content that was not attributed.

“Consequently, we have discontinued sales, will remove existing copies from all sales outlets, and will have them destroyed along with our existing inventory,” the Rev. Brian K. Milford, the president of the publishing company, said in a statement, according to the Post. 

The book compiled the emails that he and other pastors sent to Clinton every morning of her presidential campaign. Each contained a biblical passage, a short sermon, and a prayer. Clinton read them every morning during the grueling run for president, according to the Post.

On Nov. 9, Deuel contacted CNN, which broke the news that the portion of the book was plagiarized the day before the book came out. Clinton wrote the forward in the now-discredited book. She has her own book about the campaign, What Happened, coming out next week.

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