QAnon supporters are set to attend at least three of President DonaldTrump 's2020 campaign rallies this weekend.- The fringe group has been gaining traction, with several QAnon supporters running for Congress and some positioned to win.
- Trump has not distanced himself from the far-right group, which operates on the belief that a mass of satanic and pedophiliac Democrats who are running a global sex-trafficking ring are out to get the president.
At least three of President Donald Trump's rallies this weekend will be attended by QAnon supporters, a group of people who promote a far-right conspiracy that falsely says there is a mass of satanic and pedophiliac Democrats who run a global sex-trafficking ring in a fight against the president.
The events will be hosted in Georgia and Nevada, according to HuffPost.
The Georgia event, held Friday evening, featured Angela Stanton-King, the Republican running for the deceased Rep. John Lewis' seat in Congress, the HuffPost reported.
Trump retweeted her twice earlier this month. Almost immediately after, Stanton-King tweeted in all caps the QAnon rallying cry, "The storm is here," appearing to suggest that the president's retweets were validating the movement.
Stanton-King has been clear about her belief that the world is plagued with pedophilia and sex-trafficking. "This isn't about COVID 19 or BLACK LIVES MATTER. This is a major cover up for PEDOPHILIA and HUMAN TRAFFICKING," she tweeted last month.
At the rally, Stanton-King spoke alongside Dr. Robin Armstrong, a doctor who said he has given nursing home patients the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, the report said.
Trump has touted the drug as a possible cure for the disease but hydroxychloroquine has not been proven as a treatment for coronavirus.
Stanton-King also vouched for the drug on Twitter, using the platform to spread misinformation about coronavirus.
Two planned Saturday rallies will also expose voters to pushers of the QAnon movement. Tito Ortiz, an MMA fighter who uses a QAnon phrase in his Instagram bio, is expected to attend both events in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada, according to the Huffington Post.
Ortiz has also attempted to sow misinformation on the coronavirus pandemic across his social media accounts. He posted a 10-minute video to Instagram meant to suggest that states have been falsifying data on the number of people who died because of the coronavirus.
The coronavirus has infected more than 5.9 million people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Of that sum, more than 181,000 people have died from it.
Neither of the rallies this weekend require masks or personal protective equipment (PPE), and those who want to attend must sign a waiver releasing the Trump campaign from liability if anyone contracts the virus.
Trump has not denounced QAnon publicly but instead has retweeted QAnon accounts. The president has also welcomed support from the group, saying earlier this month, "I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate." A wave of QAnon supporters celebrated and thanked Trump for acknowledging them.
The promotion of QAnon from Trump and the GOP has led to growing bipartisan concern that the fringe group might be emboldened to act more publicly, especially as several QAnon supporters are running for Congress.
The White House declined to comment when asked about the rallies. A representative from the Trump 2020 campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Last year, the FBI designated QAnon as a domestic-terrorism group, saying it's filled with "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists" and citing it as a growing threat.