Pete Buttigieg had Child Protective Services called on him in what was deemed a “politically motivated hoax” reported on the politician.
The former Transportation Secretary wrote a long Substack post Friday detailing CPS arriving to investigate him and his husband and question their children earlier this week. The agency was told that he was committing crimes against his children and showed up to check everything out.
“An anonymous caller had contacted CPS,” Buttigieg wrote. “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.”
He 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.”
The politician likened the CPS call to the “swatting” phenomenon that has grown as a way to mess with public figures. The idea there is that a report is called in that would warrant a SWAT team arriving on the scene. Buttigieg noted in his Substack post that the call came days after he posted a picture with his husband and children all celebrating Father’s Day and wondered if that was the inciting incident.
Buttigieg remained unclear about how much he would be able to do to find out who made the CPS call against him but was firm that “so help me God, if there is any way to press civil or criminal charges over this, we will.” He added that the call hadn’t swayed him or the work he was doing and that his focus to “keep making the case for a better future in our country through a better kind of politics.”
“Everyone knows politics is ugly these days,” Buttigieg said. “It’s always been ugly, but now it feels more and more like bloodsport. Cruelty, lies, and even deadly violence have been directed at political figures across the ideological spectrum. Generally everyone agrees this has to stop, even as our country (and public figures) get all too used to it.”
Buttigieg was scheduled to campaign for JoAnna Mendoza in Tucson this weekend, but according to Tucson.com, he canceled his trip.
