California doctor pleads guilty to assault on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON — A California doctor known as a leading spreader of coronavirus misinformation pleaded guilty Thursday to one misdemeanor charge of joining the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last year.

Dr. Simone Gold, founder of the anti-vaccine group America’s Frontline Doctors, pleaded guilty to the charge against her of entering and remaining in a restricted compound or grounds. The conviction carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison.

As part of her plea deal, Gold acknowledged that she and her co-defendant, John Strand, were directly in front of a police officer who was assaulted and thrown to the ground outside the compound.

The doctor also admitted to later entering the building and making a speech in the Statutory Chamber about her opposition to government-imposed coronavirus vaccination mandates and lockdowns, while Strand recorded her remarks.

Gold, 56, of Beverly Hills, later told The Washington Post that he followed a crowd into the Capitol, saw no violence and didn’t think he was breaking the law.

“I can actually speak to where I was and it was definitely not a riot,” he said. “Where I was, it was incredibly peaceful.”

Gold, who has more than 400,000 followers on Twitter, is an outspoken member of the anti-vaccine movement in the United States and is known for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. She has promoted the use of unproven and possibly dangerous drugs to treat the coronavirus, such as the deworming treatment ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which is used against malaria.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, founding director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said Gold has had “a leading role” in the anti-vaccine propaganda movement, using his medical credentials and platform to ” undermine science” and politically contaminate actions to stop the pandemic.

“In some ways, your extremist voice seems to have more repercussions than the very vast majority of doctors who say ‘of course you should get vaccinated. It will save their lives,’” Redlener said.

Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, who chairs a special House subcommittee, announced in October that the panel could investigate online groups that spread disinformation about Covid-19 and push potentially dangerous treatments.

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