A major conservative doctor group pushing forward misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines is facing growing fervor from medical experts over their mournful scientific basis, while its leader, Dr. Simone Gold, was accused of participating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Gold, who founded America’s Frontline Doctors last spring with help from the Tea Party Patriots organization, was arrested on Monday in Beverly Hills, where she lives, and is charged with entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct.
Prior to her arrest, a portrait photo of Gold holding a megaphone that she used to deliver a speech at the Capitol appeared on an FBI flyer with the headline “ Looking for information ” about suspects in the Capitol attack. Gold first acknowledged her presence in the Capitol and expressed “regret” to the Washington Post after a video surfaced of her walking the Capitol.
This past May, Gold’s group quickly gained attention when several allied right-wing organizations, including Tea Party Patriots and the FreedomWorks Foundation, launched a well-funded publicity campaign to attack the state blockade and downplay the risks of the pandemic.
Gold and her fledgling group attacked policies advocated by top scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and other national pandemic experts, promoting misinformation at rallies in Los Angeles and Washington and on right-wing media owned by Salem Radio and Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network.
Gold’s mission included promoting the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, a bogus Covid-19 remedy endorsed by Donald Trump that poses serious health risks, and suggests the mental health consequences of the lockdown were more damaging than the Covid -19 virus.
Last July, Gold delivered her message at a widely publicized meeting her group hosted before the Supreme Court, which drew about 10 doctors, including two ophthalmologists. Gold, who had worked in two hospitals before the meeting, was subsequently fired and quickly tapped Conservative attorney and Trump ally Lin Wood to represent her.
Read more of Peter Stone’s report here: ‘Willful ignorance’: Doctor who joined Capitol attack, convicted of Covid lies