"manijas falsas" Idiom

Question

—¿Y Uruguay en qué etapa está? —Yo no se lo voy a decir. Dedúzcalo usted. —¿Cómo se explica la intervención del vicepresidente cuestionando el allanamiento? —Yo creo que lo que se cuestionó… Acá hubo una serie de manijas falsas. Estamos hablando de la confidencialidad y el secreto

Phoney doorhandles!

So the literal translation suggests one of those false doors you can't open - it leads nowhere.

In one sense it seems to mean "be put off the scent"

I'm thinking it can translate as:

"It was a series of red herrings" "It was all smoke and mirrors", "here was a series of false trails"...

Anybody got other possibilities?