smokescreen

noun2

1. •
   Smoke used as a disguise, mask or cover, as of troops in battle.

   • Ensign Whitely began to tell of the surprise encounter of Admiral Sprague’s escort-carrier force with the main battle line of the Japanese Navy off Samar, in a chaos of rain squalls and smoke screens. — 1951
2. •
   (figurative) Anything used metaphorically to conceal or distract.

   • All that talk is just a smokescreen to disguise the fact that he has nothing to say.