Watch Buttigieg slams Ford employee suspended for heckling Trump
Pete Buttigieg accused President Trump of making obscene gestures toward a Ford employee who was suspended for heckling Trump during a visit to Detroit.
This week, Pete Buttigieg’s life was changed forever by a hoax. An anonymous caller told Michigan Child Protective Services that his 4-year-old twins were in danger.
“It is incomprehensible that someone would try to game the system in this way and harm me and my family with absurd and easily rebuttable allegations of horrific crimes,” the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and Democratic presidential candidate wrote in a June 26 post on Substack.
This week, police officers and child welfare workers showed up on Buttigieg’s doorstep in Michigan. Buttigieg said in the post that they were investigating the allegations against him, but would not provide details until the children underwent private forensic interviews scheduled for the next day.
“The next 24 hours until they returned were some of the darkest hours of my life,” Buttigieg wrote. “This is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since the beginning of my service career.”
After interviewing the children, Buttigieg and her husband, Chasten Buttigieg, learned the nature of the allegations. The anonymous caller claimed to have spoken to a woman who met Mr. Buttigieg at an Alabama convention several years ago. The caller said the woman claimed Buttigieg had confessed to her an “unspeakable crime of violence.”
Buttigieg wrote that he told officers he had never been to the Alabama town where he allegedly spoke to the woman.
“The officer then made it clear that he believed this was politically motivated and said he would not refer the case to prosecutors,” Buttigieg wrote. “Forensic interviews of the children, conducted by trained personnel, did not reveal anything that should cause concern.”
Michigan State Police released a statement about the incident, saying they received an anonymous tip this week.
“Michigan State Police and Child Protective Services responded and determined the report was false,” it reads. “False reporting is dangerous and diverts law enforcement and child protective services personnel from responding to legitimate emergencies and protecting vulnerable children and families.”
The CPS complaint comes amid growing concerns about political violence in recent months. Dozens of Indiana lawmakers have been targeted for “swatting” ahead of a vote on congressional redistricting.
CPS’s allegations against Buttigieg were unfounded. But the family remains deeply shaken, Buttigieg wrote.
“Although the accusations were absurd, patently false, and summarily dismissed by law enforcement, I am nonetheless concerned about the harm they have caused,” Buttigieg wrote. “Whatever you think about someone in politics, you’re going to keep their children out of politics.”
Contributor: Mark Ramirez, america today
Ryan Murphy is a community reporter for IndyStar. Contact her at rhmurphy@indystar.com.
