Founder of America’s Frontline Doctors is sentenced to prison for role in Capitol riot

Simone Gold, a Beverly Hills physician who founded a doctors’ organisation that challenged pandemic public health measures and promoted unproven covid therapies, has been sentenced to 60 days in prison by a US federal court in Washington, DC, for illegally entering the US Capitol building during the riot on 6 January 2021.

Gold came to prominence in July 2020 with a viral video introducing America’s Frontline Doctors on the steps of the US Supreme Court. Seven white coated physicians denounced lockdowns and masks, questioned the utility of vaccines, and touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine, a drug which had recently been endorsed by Donald Trump.

Most of the organisation had no experience treating covid patients, but Gold was then a working emergency department physician. Trump later retweeted the video, making her an overnight star in the conservative media. She has 482 000 Twitter followers, is banned by Facebook, and …