A Los Angeles-area doctor known for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine pleaded guilty Thursday to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and will cooperate with the government’s investigation.
Simone Gold entered her plea in Washington, D.C., to a Class-A misdemeanor count of unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.
Gold faces up to a year of jail time or probation when she is sentenced on June 16. She will also pay $500 in restitution to help with the millions of dollars in repairs required after the riot.
The Beverly Hills-based doctor and an associate entered the Capitol as the crowd of Donald Trump supporters overran police and swarmed the building in an attempt to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.
Federal prosecutors say that while inside Statuary Hall, Gold gave a speech opposing vaccine mandates and government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns. Video of Gold’s speech posted on the internet shows police trying to clear the building.
In a speech she gave on Jan. 5, 2021, at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., Gold reportedly told a group of Trump supporters that the coronavirus vaccine was an “experimental, biological agent deceptively named a vaccine.”
Gold is founder of the right-wing anti-vax group America’s Frontline Doctors.
The Medical Board of California’s database shows she is currently licensed to practice medicine in the state. She describes herself on LinkedIn as a concierge physician.
