‘Bloodsport’: Pete Buttigieg says he was separated from children after false police report

Washington: Former US transportation secretary and possible US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was the target of an anonymous report that police determined was false and that he says forced him to spend a night away from his four-year-old twins. According to Buttigieg, 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.

Buttigieg described the 24-hour ordeal in a Substack post as “among the darkest hours of my life”. “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,” the military veteran wrote.

“Everyone knows politics is ugly these days. It’s always been ugly, but now it feels more and more like bloodsport.” Michigan State Police said in a statement to the AP that they had received an “anonymous report” and that they and child protective services “responded and determined the report was false”.

Buttigieg said investigators told him the anonymous caller claimed he had confessed years earlier to violent crimes during a chance meeting in Alabama. Buttigieg said he had never been to the town where the meeting allegedly occurred. He said police told him the allegation would not be referred to prosecutors and that they believed it to be politically motivated, while 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,” Buttigieg wrote. “They are four years old. Four.

They do not know or care what a Democrat or a Republican is.” Buttigieg – a Democrat who ran for president in 2020, was the first openly gay cabinet secretary and is widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender – has long weathered anti-LGBTQ 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.

Buttigieg drew criticism from some Republicans for taking paternity leave after he and his husband, Chasten, adopted their twins while he was serving in the Biden administration. He wrote that the incident occurred soon after he shared photos of his family online for Father’s Day, which is celebrated in the US in late June – also widely recognised as Pride Month. Buttigieg likened it to the practice of “swatting”, which is 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 an armed SWAT team – to show up. Public officials from across the political spectrum have increasingly been targeted by swatting. Law enforcement agencies have warned that the incidents divert resources from other pressing tasks and pose risks to both law enforcement and the victims.

“It’s a cruel and dangerous kind of hoax that has started happening more frequently in recent years,” Buttigieg wrote. “Now imagine the same concept, but with Child Protective Services instead of a SWAT team. Hadn’t thought of that?

Me neither, until a few days ago.” AP Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.

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