Buttigieg was briefly separated from his children after police say he was target of false report
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was the target of an anonymous report that police determined was fake and said he forced him to spend a night away from his four-year-old twins.
According to Buttigieg, a Michigan State Police officer and a child protective services worker arrived at his Traverse City home after receiving an anonymous report claiming he was a danger to his children. Authorities held forensic interviews for her twins and instructed her not to be alone with them until the interviews were completed.
Buttigieg called the 24-hour ordeal “one of the darkest hours of my life” in a Substack post.
Michigan State Police said in a statement to the Associated Press that they received an “anonymous report” and that they and child protective services “responded and determined the report was false.”
Buttigieg said investigators told him the anonymous man claimed to have confessed to violent crimes during a chance meeting in Alabama years ago. Buttigieg said he never went to the town where the meeting allegedly took place.
He said police told him the allegation would not be forwarded to prosecutors and they believed the allegation was politically motivated, but Child Protective Services found nothing to substantiate the report.
“I cannot express the mixture of anger and sadness I feel at the idea that someone has put our children in this situation,” Buttigieg writes. “They’re four years old. They’re four years old. They don’t know what Democrat or Republican is, they don’t care.”
Buttigieg, widely seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, has long been the target of anti-LGBTQ attacks.
In recent years, conservative activists and some Republican officials have opposed efforts to portray gay parents as ordinary families in schools and public life. June – widely known Pride Month – In Alabama, Strong Families Month is intended to coincide with Father’s Day. Governor Kay Ivey’s statement notes that fathers are the “head of the household” and that “homes led by a father and mother provide children with the structure and discipline they need to succeed throughout life.”
Buttigieg wrote that the incident occurred right after he posted photos of his family online for Father’s Day.
Buttigieg has faced criticism from some Republicans for taking paternity leave after he and his wife, Chasten, adopted twin children while he served in the Biden administration. Buttigieg also wrote that he has faced death threats throughout his career.
“But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since the beginning of my service career,” he wrote.
Public officials from across the political spectrum are increasingly the targets of swabbing, the act of making fake calls to emergency services to ensure a response to a specific address. The goal is to get the authorities, especially the SWAT team, to show up. Law enforcement officials warned that the incidents diverted resources from other urgent tasks and posed a risk to both law enforcement and victims.
Buttigieg said the incident reflects a broader increase in political attacks.
“Everyone knows politics is ugly these days,” he wrote. “It was always ugly, but now it’s becoming more and more like a blood sport.”
“Even so, this is different.”
