High-profile Democrat Pete Buttigieg has been the target of a false anonymous report claiming he was a danger to his four-year-old twins.
Mr Buttigieg said the incident led to he and his husband, Chasten, being forced to spend a night apart from their children.
“We’re physically OK, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t harmed,” he posted on X.
“Whatever your politics, this is awful, wrong, and can never become normal.”
Pete Buttigieg is widely tipped to be in the running for the Democratic presidential candidate race in 2028. (Reuters: Brendan Mcdermid)
‘A terrible thing happened to my family’
After investigating, Michigan police determined the anonymous allegation was false.
Writing on Substack under the headline ‘A Terrible Thing Happened to My Family‘, Mr Buttigieg said a Michigan State Police officer and a child protective services worker came to his home in Traverse City, after they received an anonymous report alleging he posed a danger to his children.
Authorities arranged forensic interviews for his twins and instructed him not to be alone with them until the interviews were complete.
The children were sent to stay with their grandparents.
Mr Buttigieg is a former naval officer who became the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a US Cabinet post in 2021, when he served as US secretary of transport under former president Joe Biden.
He described the 24-hour ordeal as “among the darkest hours of my life”.
Investigators told him the anonymous caller claimed he had confessed years earlier to violent crimes during a chance meeting in Alabama, Mr Buttigieg said.
But, Mr Buttigieg said he had never been to the town where the meeting allegedly occurred.
‘Politically motivated’ and nothing to substantiate
He said police told him the allegation would not be referred to prosecutors and that they believed it to be politically motivated.
Child Protective Services found nothing to substantiate the report.
“I cannot describe the mix of rage and sadness that I feel at the idea that someone brought our children into this,” Mr Buttigieg wrote on Substack.
“They are four years old. Four. They do not know or care what a Democrat or a Republican is.”
Mr Buttigieg, who is widely viewed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, has long been the target of anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks.
In recent years, conservative activists and some Republican officials have opposed efforts to portray same-sex parents as ordinary families in schools and public life.
Mr Buttigieg wrote that the incident occurred soon after he shared photos of his family online for Father’s Day.
“Even though the accusation was absurdly and obviously false, and was promptly rejected by law enforcement, I still worry about the harm it has done,” he wrote.
“I worry about how anyone, even in today’s world, could fail to respect the absolutely fundamental principle that whatever you think about someone in politics, you leave people’s kids out of it.”
Targeted for taking paternity leave
Some Republicans targeted Mr Buttigieg for taking paternity leave after he and his husband, Chasten, adopted their twins while he was serving in the Biden administration.
Mr Buttigieg also wrote that he has faced death threats during his career.
“But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began,” he wrote.
Public officials from across the political spectrum in the US have increasingly been targeted by swatting, the act of making a false call to emergency services to prompt a response at a particular address.
The goal is to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to show up.
Law enforcement agencies have warned that the incidents divert resources from other pressing tasks and pose risks to both law enforcement and the victims.
Mr Buttigieg said the incident reflected a broader escalation in political attacks.
“Everyone knows politics is ugly these days,” he wrote.
“It’s always been ugly, but now it feels more and more like bloodsport.
“Even so, this is different.”
AP/ABC
