Poli Alert Politics & Civics
Related Articles
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband were temporarily separated from their 4-year-old children after a false report was anonymously filed with Children’s Protective Services.
The Michigan State Police and CPS determined the report was false, Michigan State Police spokesperson Shannon Banner said.
“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,” Banner said.
Buttigieg wrote in a Substack post Friday that the report claimed he told an attendee at a conference in Alabama, which he says he didn’t attend, that he had “committed unspeakable violent crimes.”
He said he was not allowed to be alone with his children until after separate interviews with himself and each child, which were scheduled a day after investigators initially visited their home in Traverse City.
Buttigieg wrote that the 24 hours he was separated from his children was “among the darkest hours of my life.”
“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,” Buttigieg said. “But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”
Buttigieg said the officer interviewing him “made clear that he believed this was politically motivated, and said it would not be referred to a prosecutor.”
“After the officer, the CPS worker, and the lawyers all left, Chasten and I hugged each other as tightly as we have any time since the day our son was put on life support as a critically ill infant just weeks after the adoption,” Buttigieg wrote. “We went to get the kids, had dinner with them and their grandparents, brought them home and gave them the most normal bedtime we could – with a few more bedtime books than usual.”
Buttigieg said the incident occurred soon after sharing family photos on social media for Father’s Day. The first openly gay cabinet secretary, Buttigieg noted it also occurred during Pride Month.
He characterized the incident as an example of “swatting,” an increasingly frequent crime in which someone anonymously calls 911 with a false report of imminent danger at the home of a public figure, causing a large police response.
“I don’t know how much we can do about it, but so help me God, if there is any way to press civil or criminal charges over this, we will,” Buttigieg said. “Not just for our own sakes but to draw a line that I thought everyone already recognized: do not mess with someone’s kids.”
The news was met with swift condemnation and an outpouring of support for Buttigieg from many public officials, including some seen as possible rivals in the 2028 presidential race.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker echoed Buttigieg’s call for accountability.
“No matter our politics, there has to be a line,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Using false reports to drag young children into a political attack is beyond the pale.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said “politically charged attacks have become too common in America.”
“It cannot be normalized, and leaders on both sides of the aisle must condemn this,” Walz wrote on X.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “disgusting and beyond the pale.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said “targeting the family of a public servant is reprehensible.”
Buttigieg said he “cannot describe the mix of rage and sadness that I feel at the idea that someone brought our children into this.”
“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,” Buttigieg said. “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.”
by Andrew Roth, Michigan Advance
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: [email protected].
