QAnon-Friendly Event Attendees Are Coming Down Sick—They Think It's Anthrax

Conspiracy influencers who recently attended a QAnon-friendly event in Texas believe they have suffered an anthrax attack after many of them became ill.

Supposedly dozens of people who attended the ReAwaken America tour in Dallas earlier this month claimed they became ill with anthrax poisoning after they gathered in the green room during the event.

Podcast host Joe Oltmann, who has promoted claims of widespread fraud during the 2020 Presidential Election, said in a December 19 Telegram post that he had recently been sick.

He later revealed Jovan Pulitzer, who has also promoted baseless claims of voter fraud, was very sick after attending the ReAwaken America tour event.

In a December 21 Telegram post, Joe Oltmann said: "Jovan Pulitzer is in a bad place right now. Please pray for him. Bring the spirit of healing upon him. In Jesus' name, amen. Might be anthrax, stay tuned."

In a follow-up post, Oltmann added: "In an effort to be clear and transparent, I don't know if it is anthrax, some other derivative, or a pike protein (I was just told by a doctor that the symptoms are similar).

"What I do know is Jovan is sick sick, I have been sick sick yet not near as bad as him. He has all the signs of some sort of anthrax or derivative. I asked him to go get tested and he agreed."

Despite making the claims, Oltmann provided no evidence that he and others had been the victims of an anthrax attack.

Pulitzer himself confirmed he had been sick in a series of Twitter posts shared earlier today and claimed "evidence suggest that several of us were targeted by biological agents at an event (sic)."

He claimed to have suffered from rashes, blistering, passing blood, hallucinations as well as "massive fever storms."

Former New Mexico State University professor David Clements, a vocal opponent of vaccine mandates, claimed Oltmann, Pulitzer and "a dozen other folks that were present at the last ReAwaken America tour" had suffered "from symptoms related to an anthrax attack."

His post also failed to include any evidence to support the claims made by Oltmann.

Claims of an anthrax attack were also widely shared by major QAnon influencers, many of whom have also promoted claims of widespread election fraud during the 2020 election.

Ron Watkins, who is accused of having at some point been in control of the "Q" account that popularised the conspiracy online, also shared claims of anthrax poisoning.

In a Tuesday Telegram post, he said: "Everyone, please send prayers for Joe Oltmann, Jovan Pulitzer, and a few others (who I won't name). They are very sick with what is suspected to be anthrax poisoning."

The claims of anthrax poisoning were also shared on Telegram channels run by John Sabal, known as QAnon John, and QAnon-supporting lawyer Lin Wood to a combined following of more than 800,000 subscribers.

ReAwaken America tour organizer Clay Clark dismissed the claims of an unsubstantiated anthrax attack as "the spirit of fear."

He made the comment during a December 21 episode of his Thrivetime Show podcast episode titled: "A bio-weapon was not released at the Dallas ReAwaken Tour."

In an email sent to Newsweek, Clark further added: "I pray for anyone who is sick whether they are attending an NFL game, a wedding, a Christmas Party, a ReAwaken Tour Event or not, including Jovan Pulitzer."

The ReAwaken America tour featured speakers who have previously attended QAnon events including, disgraced general Michael Flynn and Trump-endorsed State Senator Wendy Rogers and Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem.

John Chambers, host of the American Media Periscope, an online news channel, concluded his speech at the Dallas event by asking the crowd to chant the QAnon-associated phrase "WWG1WGA", or Where We Go One We Go All.

According to data collected by the New York Times, Texas has experienced an upswing in COVID-19 cases since late November.

On December 21, the state recorded 11,203 new cases and had a seven-day average of 7,539.