Buttigieg says false CPS report targeted his family

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday that an anonymous report to Michigan authorities falsely accused him of posing a danger to his 4-year-old twins, triggering a Child Protective Services and police investigation that separated him from his children for 24 hours.

Michigan State Police confirmed they received an anonymous report involving Buttigieg and said state police and Child Protective Services responded and “determined the report was false.” In a statement, the agency called false reports “dangerous,” saying they “divert law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services workers from responding to legitimate emergencies and protecting vulnerable children and families.”

Buttigieg, who lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with his husband, Chasten, and their twin children, described the episode in a Substack post. He said a police officer and CPS worker came to his home “a few days ago” after an allegation involving his children had been made against him.

Because he was not allowed to be alone with the children before they were interviewed, Buttigieg said the twins stayed with their grandparents, away from both fathers. The next morning, he said, each child underwent a separate forensic interview without family members present. Buttigieg was later interviewed as part of the investigation.

“The twenty-four hours until they returned are among the darkest hours of my life,” he wrote.

During his interview, Buttigieg said, an officer told him an anonymous caller had reported him to CPS. According to Buttigieg, 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 said he told the officer he had never been to the town in Alabama.

“Then the officer made clear that he believed this was politically motivated, and said it would not be referred to a prosecutor,” Buttigieg wrote. “Nothing in the forensic interview with the children, which was conducted by trained personnel, had led to concerns.”

He said the CPS worker also indicated she had found nothing to substantiate the allegation, though the process to formally close the investigation would take more time.

Buttigieg described the incident as “the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.” He said he appreciated the work of the police and CPS personnel involved, calling it “admirable,” but said that “in this case, their time and resources were wasted in a cruel, politically motivated hoax that harmed our family.”

“For twenty-four deeply distressing hours, we had no idea what I was accused of or what was about to happen,” he wrote. “We could not understand someone abusing the system like this in order to hurt me and my family with an absurd and easily refuted allegation of a horrific crime.”

Buttigieg also said the timing stood out to him. “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 wrote. “Or that this occurred during a month meant to make families like ours feel welcome and safe.” Pride Month is observed in June to celebrate LGBTQ+ people.

NPR reported that Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., responded to Buttigieg’s post on X with bipartisan support, writing, “this has happened to our family and I agree, this is horrible.” Van Orden added, “I hope they find the folks that did this and send them to prison.” NPR said it had not independently confirmed Van Orden’s claim.

Buttigieg, a Navy veteran and former Biden administration Cabinet member, was the first openly gay Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate. He has not confirmed whether he will run for president in 2028, though early polls have placed him among prospective Democratic contenders, along with former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

NBC News reported that the false report came amid a rise in swatting incidents targeting government officials and politicians. In those cases, callers make false emergency reports to draw a law enforcement response to a home or business, sometimes creating the risk of physical harm.