The Hillary Clinton campaign used a static noise machine to drown out the Democratic presidential frontrunner’s speech during a fundraiser in Colorado Thursday.
Stan Bush, a reporter for KCNC-TV CBS4 in Denver, was among several reporters staking out the fundraiser at the home of Gov. John Hickenlooper (D.).
Music could be heard at the event, which was held outside in a public neighborhood before Clinton was set to speak. The campaign then used a "large speaker pointed out into the street" to distort the sound so lingering reporters could not hear, according to Bush.
Guess @HillaryClinton campaign dsn't want reporters to hear fundraiser speech. Turned on a static noise machine pointed at us when she spoke
— Stan Bush (@StanBushTV) April 8, 2016
Bush posted videos of before and after Clinton’s speech, to note the difference in the sound system.
Clarify - we're across street of private @HillaryClinton fundraiser. "Static noise" turnd on aftr band/before speech pic.twitter.com/4up0EMEwTD
— Stan Bush (@StanBushTV) April 8, 2016
.@cascamike listen here for sound of what was turned on after the bands and just before the speeches. pic.twitter.com/GhSE15NDeN
— Stan Bush (@StanBushTV) April 8, 2016
Speeches over. @HillaryClinton campaign just turned off their noise interference.
— Stan Bush (@StanBushTV) April 8, 2016
Bush said the campaign "must have chosen static noise as a privacy wall since they wanted to hold an event outside in a public neighborhood."
Clinton’s fundraising stop in Denver was her first visit to Colorado since losing the state to Bernie Sanders by 19 points on Super Tuesday.
The Clinton campaign "would release no details to the press in advance" of the fundraiser, according to the Denver Post.
Clinton has been scrutinized for her campaign’s relationship with the press, literally herding a group of reporters with a rope line at an event in New Hampshire last summer, and her refusal to release transcripts of her $250,000 speeches to the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.
Bundlers who raised $27,000 for Clinton at the fundraiser were rewarded with a "special reception and a photo" with Mrs. Clinton, and an invitation to New York for a finance summit held by the campaign, according to the Post.
The minimum contribution to attend the fundraiser was $500, and donors who gave $1,000 were given a "preferred viewing" during the event.