Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg found himself at the center of a disturbing incident when an anonymous report — later determined to be false — prompted Michigan State Police and child protective services to respond to his home, temporarily separating him from his four-year-old twins.
Buttigieg detailed the experience in a post on Substack, writing that a Michigan State Police officer informed him they found no evidence to support the anonymous allegation and believed it was driven by political motives. He described the roughly 24-hour ordeal as being “among the darkest hours of my life.”
Michigan State Police confirmed in a statement that they received an “anonymous report” and that both their agency and child protective services “responded and determined the report was false.”
According to Buttigieg, an officer and a child protective services worker arrived at his home after someone anonymously claimed he was a danger to his children. Authorities arranged forensic interviews for the twins and told Buttigieg he was not permitted to be alone with them until those interviews were finished.
The next day, Buttigieg said investigators revealed that the anonymous caller had claimed he confessed to violent crimes years ago during an unplanned encounter in Alabama. Buttigieg stated he had never visited the town where that supposed meeting took place. Police told him the allegation would not be forwarded to prosecutors, and child protective services found nothing to back up the report.
“I cannot describe the mix of rage and sadness that I feel at the idea that someone brought our children into this,” Buttigieg wrote. “They are four years old. Four. They do not know or care what a Democrat or a Republican is.”
Buttigieg, who is widely considered a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, has long been a target of anti-LGBTQ attacks. He noted that the incident happened shortly after he posted photos of his family online in recognition of Father’s Day.
He previously faced criticism from some Republicans when he took paternity leave after he and his husband, Chasten, adopted their twins while he was serving in the Biden administration. Buttigieg also noted in his post that he has received death threats throughout his career.
“But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began,” he wrote.
The incident appears to be an example of what law enforcement calls “swatting” — the act of making a false report to emergency services in order to trigger a police response at someone’s home or location. Officials have warned that such incidents waste critical resources and create dangerous situations for both responding officers and the people targeted.
Buttigieg said the episode is part of a larger pattern of escalating political attacks in the current environment.
“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.”
