Pete Buttigieg Reveals He Was Separated From His Kids After False Children Protective Services Report

Gay former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg revealed Friday that he and his family had been targeted by a bogus child endangerment report to authorities.

In a post to his Substack titled “A Terrible Thing Happened to My Family,” Buttigieg said he and his husband Chasten had been separated from their 4-year-old twins for a day after Michigan authorities investigated a claim that Buttigieg was a threat to his children. The two had to be away from them until the children were interviewed by Child Protective Services.

Police later said the report was false and told Buttigieg it was likely politically motivated, he said.

The BBC and the New York Times report that local police determined the report to be false and warned of the dangers of such reporting.

Buttigieg compared the false report to being “Swatted,” which is a hoax involving someone calling the police on a person’s home.

“The twenty-four hours until they returned are among the darkest hours of my life,” the possible 2028 presidential candidate and veteran 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. But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”

Buttigieg also pointed out that the false report occurred during Pride Month.

“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,” he wrote.

He described in the post on Substack that a police officer and CPS worker arrived at his Michigan home shortly after Father’s Day. He and Chasten took their children to spend the night at their grandparents’.

The next day after the interviews were conducted, the officer described that an anonymous caller had reported him. “The caller said that he had spoken to a woman who claimed to have met me at a conference several years ago in Alabama, where she said I told her that I had committed unspeakable violent crimes, and the caller believed my children were still at risk,” Buttigieg wrote.

The officer, Buttigieg wrote, said he believed the call was politically motivated and that the report would not be referred to prosecutors.

In the post, Buttigieg said he will pursue legal action against the caller if possible.

He wrote: “So help me God, if there is any way to press civil or criminal charges over this, we will. Not just for our own sakes but to draw a line that I thought everyone already recognized: do not mess with someone’s kids.”

Buttigieg said that today’s political climate is no excuse for such actions against families.

“We cannot let American politics keep going in this direction. And we must not all go on as if it’s acceptable for this kind of thing to be part of the cost of entering public service,” he wrote.