Buttigieg Separated from Children After False CPS Report
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was forced to spend 24 hours separated from his four-year-old twins after an anonymous caller made a false report to Michigan Child Protective Services, an incident he described as “among the darkest hours of my life.” Authorities later determined the report was false and politically motivated.
The Incident
According to AP News, a Michigan State Police officer and a CPS worker arrived at Buttigieg’s home in Traverse City, Michigan, after receiving an anonymous report alleging he posed a danger to his children. The caller claimed that a woman had met Buttigieg at a conference in Alabama years earlier, where he allegedly confessed to “unspeakable violent crimes.”
Buttigieg detailed the ordeal in a Substack post titled “A Terrible Thing Happened to My Family,” describing how authorities instructed him not to be alone with his children until forensic interviews were completed the following day. His twins, Penelope and Gus, were sent to stay with their grandparents overnight.
“The twenty-four hours until they returned are among the darkest hours of my life,” Buttigieg wrote. “I tried to get my head around the idea that I had been accused of something so serious that I couldn’t be alone around my own children.”
Authorities Confirm Report Was False
Michigan State Police confirmed they received an “anonymous report” and, after investigation, “determined the report was false.” In a statement, the agency 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,” as NPR reported.
During Buttigieg’s formal interview, the officer told him he believed the report was politically motivated and would not be referred to a prosecutor. Nothing in the forensic interviews with the children had led to concerns.
A New Form of Swatting
Buttigieg described the incident as an evolution of “swatting” — the practice of making false emergency calls to prompt a heavily armed police response. “Now imagine the same concept, but with Child Protective Services instead of a SWAT team,” he wrote. The FBI has established a dedicated database to track swatting incidents, which have increased significantly in recent years targeting lawmakers, judges, and other public figures.
CBS News noted that Buttigieg had previously been the target of a swatting attempt while serving in the Cabinet, but that hoax was “quickly detected.”
Bipartisan Outrage
The incident drew bipartisan condemnation. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.), who said a similar incident had happened to his own family, wrote on X: “This is horrible. I hope they find the folks that did this and send them to prison.”
Buttigieg noted the timing of the attack — occurring shortly after he shared family photos on social media for Father’s Day and during Pride Month, a period meant to celebrate and welcome LGBTQ+ families. “It’s not lost on me that this happened soon after we shared photos of our family on social media for Father’s Day,” he said. “Or that this occurred during a month meant to make families like ours feel welcome and safe.”
Personal Toll
Buttigieg, who served as Transportation Secretary under President Joe Biden and is widely viewed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, expressed profound anguish over the impact on his children.
“I cannot describe the mix of rage and sadness that I feel at the idea that someone brought our children into this,” he wrote. “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.”
Drawing on his extensive experience in public life, Buttigieg added: “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.”
What’s Next
Buttigieg has stated he will pursue criminal and civil charges if possible. “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,” he wrote, adding that the goal is “to draw a line that I thought everyone already recognized: do not mess with someone’s kids.”
The identity of the anonymous caller remains unknown. The incident has renewed calls for stronger penalties for false reporting and has raised questions about safeguards in the CPS intake process to prevent similar abuses targeting public figures and their families.