Michigan attorney general investigating child services swatting incident involving Buttigieg and his kids

The office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday that she has opened an investigation into an incident last month where former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a high-profile Democratic Party figure and a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, said that authorities were called to his house over false allegations that temporarily led to him being separated from his two children.

"The Department of Attorney General has opened an investigation into this malicious act not only to look into the potential unlawful conduct but also to mitigate the risk that this act could trigger copy-cat acts against other well-known residents and elected officials as the newest form of threat or intimidation," a spokesperson for the Michigan attorney general's office wrote in a statement.

Authorities were called to Buttigieg's Traverse City, Michigan, house over false allegations, in what he said seemed to be an effort to target him politically, he said in a blog post on July 1.

Buttigieg wrote that he later found out from police while being interviewed that someone who claimed to have met him at a conference had said that Buttigieg had told her he had "committed unspeakable violent crimes," and so his children were at risk.

It resulted, Buttigieg said, in being told he could not be around his 4-year-old twins unsupervised until the children were interviewed by authorities without any family present.

Michigan State Police later confirmed that the anonymous report from the person was false.

In a Monday statement, the Michigan attorney general's office said that "common sense would have shown that this targeted report plainly lacked credibility on its face."

"Before children are separated from their families, due diligence should be exercised to ensure some nexus exists between the source and the family, or that the complaint comes from a reputable, reliable, or verifiable source," the office wrote.

The office added that the action are "a potential felony violation under Michigan law, and one we take seriously."

A Buttigieg spokesperson said Monday that this "has been a painful and infuriating situation for the family."

"They are in touch with Michigan authorities, seeking answers and accountability for what happened," the spokesperson added.

In an interview with "Good Morning America" last month, Buttigieg said his family is trying to put the incident behind them.

"To me, the most important thing going forward is we just cannot allow our politics to keep moving in this direction," he said. "This can't be treated as something that it's just something you accept, something you take on when you choose to go into public service."

Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.