Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a prominent Democrat and widely discussed possible 2028 presidential contender, said Friday that authorities were called to his Michigan home based on what he described as false claims. Buttigieg said the incident appeared to be a politically motivated attempt to target him and resulted, for a short time, in his being separated from his two children.
Buttigieg, who is openly gay and one of the Democratic Party’s most visible advocates for LGBTQ rights, wrote that he felt both “rage and sadness” that someone had drawn his 4-year-old twins into the situation. He suggested the episode may have been driven in part by homophobia and aimed at harming him and his family.
“They are four years old. Four. They do not know or care what a Democrat or a Republican is. They don’t know how politics works. They don’t know about hate. They should be worrying about what kind of ice cream they’re getting this afternoon, not why they are being brought into a meeting with a grownup asking strange questions or why their Papa is suddenly unavailable to read them a bedtime story. For God’s sake, they are just kids,” Buttigieg wrote in a blog post published Friday.
According to Buttigieg, a Child Protective Services worker and a police officer arrived at his home in Traverse City, Michigan, “a few days ago” and informed him that an allegation had been made involving his 4-year-old twins. He said he was told the children would need to be interviewed without him present, and that he would be questioned afterward.
Buttigieg said officials also told him he could not be alone with the children until after the interview, and that the twins would have to speak with authorities without any relatives in the room. He said he and his husband, Chasten, then arranged for the children to stay with their grandparents.
“The twenty-four hours until they returned are among the darkest hours of my life. I tried to get my head around the idea that I had been accused of something so serious that I couldn’t be alone around my own children, and had consented to have them interviewed by strangers, without my knowing where the accusation had come from or even what it contained,” Buttigieg wrote.
“Many times over the years, I have been denounced, yelled at, protested, threatened, and heckled. I’ve been through political attacks in office, death threats in public life, and rocket attacks in war,” the military veteran added. “But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”
Buttigieg said he later learned during a police interview that the report came from someone who claimed to have met him at a conference and alleged that he had admitted to “committed unspeakable violent crimes,” putting his children at risk.
He said both police and CPS appeared to conclude the claims were not substantiated, and that he was soon permitted to be with his children unsupervised again.
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Michigan State Police confirmed that the anonymous report from the person was false.
“False reports are dangerous and divert law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services workers from responding to legitimate emergencies and protecting vulnerable children and families,” Michigan State Police said in a statement.
Buttigieg praised the police and CPS officials as “courteous and professional,” writing that they and the interviewers “were just following procedure and doing their jobs – admirable jobs that must be incredibly difficult every day, protecting the most vulnerable children from the most horrible threats … their time and resources were wasted in a cruel, politically motivated hoax that harmed our family.”
Buttigieg, during his time in President Joe Biden’s White House, moved to his husband’s hometown of Traverse City, Michigan.
“Everyone knows politics is ugly these days. It’s always been ugly, but now it feels more and more like bloodsport. Cruelty, lies, and even deadly violence have been directed at political figures across the ideological spectrum. Generally everyone agrees this has to stop, even as our country (and public figures) get all too used to it,” Buttigieg wrote. “Even so, this is different… Now our family is left to deal with the aftermath. I worry about any unseen effects this had on our kids, on Chasten and me, and on the rest of our family.”
He later added, “I don’t know who did this, or exactly what prompted them to try. It’s not lost on me that this happened soon after we shared photos of our family on social media for Father’s Day. Or that this occurred during a month meant to make families like ours feel welcome and safe. We’re used to nasty, hateful, and sometimes violent things being said about us and even about our family. But this is the first time someone managed to invade our lives like this – and drag our children into it.”
Buttigieg said he is exploring pressing civil or criminal charges over the incident.
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