Conspiracy theorist who hosted Belfast event dies of COVID-19
A far-right conspiracy theorist who hosted a July rally in Belfast where he called COVID-19 a “hoax” has died in a Florida hospital after contracting the virus.
Robert David Steele, a former CIA officer, who had also claimed NASA is operating a child slave colony on Mars, rallied a large crowd at the Crosby Center in Belfast on July 27. Steele was joined by a delegation of Maine conservative notables as well, including Christiane Northrop of Yarmouth and state Rep. Heidi Sampson, R-Alfred.
Northrop, an obstetrician-gynecologist, was once a best-selling self-help author and regular guest on Oprah, but has most recently gained notoriety promoting misinformation about masking and vaccines.
Sampson, meanwhile, likened COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers to the deadly medical experiments carried out by Nazi German against Jews and compared Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, to Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele, who expiremented on concentration camp prisoners and was known as the “Angel of Death.”
Steele was also known as a Holocaust denier and advanced the unfounded QAnon conspiracy that Democrats are running an underground child-sex trafficking ring.
Multiple media sources in Maine and nationally are reporting Steele’s death, which appeared to be confirmed by his supporters on social media, who are now saying he was murdered by opponents seeking to silence him.
Steele appeared at the rally in Belfast with Sampson as part of nationwide tour by the group Arise USA, which has been critical of COVID-19 restrictions and alleges 2020 election fraud.
Steele and Sampson both called for a “forensic audit” of Maine’s 2020 election results during the rally, despite there being no evidence of any disparities or even widespread complaints about Maine’s 2020 election results.
Sampson did not immediately return a phone message left for her Monday afternoon.
On Aug. 17, Steele posted a photo of himself in a Florida hospital wearing an oxygen mask and predicted he would survive. “With love to you all I survived!” Steele wrote. “I went in at 77 oxygenation. I’m up to 94. I will not take the vaccination, though I did test positive for whatever they’re calling ‘COVID’ today, but the bottom line is that my lungs are not functioning.”
On Sunday, anti-vaccination advocate Mark Tassi posted a video on Instagram announcing Steele’s death. “It was the typical respiratory thing,” Tassi said, noting he was suspicious of Steele’s death and later said it was an effort to discredit Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who has faced increasing criticism for his administration’s response to the pandemic.
This story will be updated.
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