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3w ago

Unidentified Pranksters Hijack McMahon’s Speech With Circus Music at D.C. Student Conference

Organizers recovered eight concealed speakers with a ‘Vox clamantis’ note during an ongoing probe into how the devices bypassed event security

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks during the summer meeting of the National Governors Association at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.
© Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Overview

  • During a Young America’s Foundation conference on August 6, hidden Bluetooth speakers repeatedly blasted audio insults and circus music during McMahon’s fireside chat in Washington, D.C.
  • A Post-it note attached to one device bore “Vox clamantis,” Latin for “a voice crying out,” hinting at activists’ symbolic motives.
  • No individual or group has claimed responsibility and security logs show no unauthorized entrants, leaving the breach method—whether hacking the system or deploying scattered speakers—undetermined.
  • Despite the disruptions, McMahon and moderator Scott Walker pressed on, with Walker jokingly blaming liberal senators and the Chinese Communist Party for the hijacking.
  • The Department of Education and Young America’s Foundation have launched an investigation to strengthen security protocols and identify how the concealed speakers evaded detection.