Former US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg revealed that he and his family were involved in a swatting incident.
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In a Substack post, Buttigieg revealed a false report led to Child Protective Services (CPS) to investigate his twins’ safety. He shares the children with husband, Chasten.
“You’ve probably heard of ‘swatting.’ It’s a cruel and dangerous kind of hoax that has started happening more frequently in recent years,” he explained. “Someone anonymously calls 911 with a false report of imminent danger, such as a hostage situation, at the home of a public figure.”
“Law enforcement swarms the house, guns drawn, terrifying the unsuspecting homeowner and family,” he continued. “And sometimes even leading to deaths or injuries in the confusion.”
Buttigieg pointed out that swatting has happened to dozens of lawmakers, judges, celebrities, and others. He said that a swatting incident happened to him while he was in the Biden administration as well. “It’s become enough of a problem that the FBI now has a dedicated database to track such incidents.”
Circling back to what happed recently, Buttigieg said instead of a SWAT team coming to his home, it was CPS. “I showed them in, invited them on the deck so that we could hear each other over the barking dog, and asked what was going on. They explained that there had been an allegation against me, that it concerned our four-year-old twins, and that a forensic interview had been arranged for the children the following day. “
He was not able to present during the children’s interview. Following the interview, the children went to stay with their grandparents. Buttigieg was not allowed near the chidlre during the investigation.
CPS then revealed what led to the invetigation.
An Anonymous Caller Makes Shocking Claims About Buttigieg
Although Buttigieg said he was used to number of falsehoods, the situation involving his children shook him to the core.
” An anonymous caller had contacted CPS. The caller said that he had spoken to a woman who claimed to have met me at a conference several years ago in Alabama,” he explained. “Where she said I told her that I had committed unspeakable violent crimes, and the caller believed my children were still at risk.”
Buttigieg further explained that the story the anoymous caller was completely fabircated.
“[An officer] asked if I had been to the town where the woman claimed she had met me. I have not,” he stated. “Then the officer made clear that he believed this was politically motivated, and said it would not be referred to a prosecutor. Nothing in the forensic interview with the children, which was conducted by trained personnel, had led to concerns.”
The CPS worker also indicated she had not found anything to substantiate the allegation. Buttigieg no longer had to worry about not being around the children.
“After the officer, the CPS worker, and the lawyers all left, Chasten and I hugged each other,” he wrote. “As tightly as we have any time since the day our son was put on life support as a critically ill infant just weeks after the adoption.”
Buttigieg went on to write about the ugly side of politics. However, this incident was very different from anything Buttigieg has ever gone through. His family now has to the trauma of the situation.