Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says he and his husband were briefly separated from their 4-year-old twins after a false report against him.
He said he learned about the allegation this week, when a worker with children’s protective services and a police officer came to their house in Michigan.
Buttigieg said someone made an anonymous false report against him.
“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. They should be worrying about what kind of ice cream they’re getting this afternoon, not why they are being brought into a meeting with a grownup asking strange questions or why their Papa is suddenly unavailable to read them a bedtime story. For God’s sake, they are just kids,” Buttigieg wrote in a blog post published Friday.
He said the separation, for 24 hours, was “among the darkest hours of my life.”
The twins stayed with their grandparents that night and were interviewed by CPS.
Michigan state police said they and CPS determined the report was untrue.
“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,” Michigan State Police said in a statement.
Buttigieg said he wants to press civil or criminal charges over the incident, calling the incident the “ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”
Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet secretary, is widely seen as a contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination for president. He ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
CNN Newsource and ABC News contributed to this report.
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