DENVER, COLORADO — While at a fundraising stop in Denver last week, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was accused of using a “static noise machine” to prevent reporters waiting outside from hearing her remarks, according to Stan Bush, a reporter from Denver’s CBS-4 local news.
The event took place outside at the home of Colorado’s governor, John Hickenlooper, who also happens to be a Democratic party superdelegate that has endorsed Clinton in her bid for president against party rival Bernie Sanders.
CBS Reporter Stan Bush’s Twitter feed from April 7th
The use of static machines is not entirely uncommon among some businesses and industries, as a means to maintain privacy and perhaps security of conversation. However, the large scale use of static noise against the media in the US is not a common occurrence, particularly in a presidential nomination campaign where the media is expected to be routinely following each candidate’s every move.
While on the surface it may not seem unusual that a campaign wants to prevent people from eavesdropping, the issue of fundraisers lacking in transparency became a rather contentious one in the 2012 US presidential election. However, neither the Romney nor Obama campaigns had been accused of using static noise machines to keep out the press.
Videos from the event have surfaced, such as the clip below, from WNews:
https://youtu.be/HlXuackQ7dY
Rival Criticizes Campaign’s Lack of Transparency
The Sanders campaign, who has routinely criticized Clinton’s ties to Wall Street and previously over her refusal to release speech transcripts at past major fundraising events, wasted no time to respond to the Clinton campaign’s use of noise machines against the media.
In an email to supporters late last week, entitled “Wild story from Clinton fundraiser last night.”
Bernie Sanders Campaign April 8th email to supporters, via HuffPost
The Clinton campaign has so far not responded to the media’s request for comment.
Source: Washington Free Beacon, Huffington Post, StanBushTV
