2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg Accused of Sexual Assault
The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a front-running 2020 presidential candidate for the Democrats, was accused Monday of committing a sexual assault.
“My name is Hunter Kelly. I am 21 years old. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. For the past three nights, I have not slept even a single hour. I have vomited eight times,” Kelly said in a Medium blog post plainly titled, “Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me.”
The accuser, a gay man attending college in rural Michigan, continues:
I was sexually assaulted by Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I didn’t know who he was back in February, only that he told me he was an important politician. When I started seeing him on television three weeks ago as a Presidential candidate, I thought about coming forward.
I am a gay man. I have been grappling with my identity for a number of years. I live, work, and attend college in rural Michigan. I know that by coming forward, I will make a hard life even harder. But I must do so — I must do so — for my country, for other gay men like me, and most importantly to stop a very bad man from becoming President of the United States.
I must confess that this is the toughest thing I have ever had to do. For two weeks now, I have been contemplating suicide. I see myself jumping from a building or a bridge. I know that years and years of counseling may lie in front of me.
Kelly did not share the whole story of his encounter with Buttigieg.
“In the days and weeks ahead, I will share my full story with the nation,” his post finished.
So far, the Medium blog post shows at least 64 claps (“likes”) and two responses (comments).
On Twitter, the account @realHunterKelly shared a link to the Medium post. On his Twitter profile he shares his location as Grand Rapids, Michigan. The account was opened in April 2019 and has 60 followers as of Monday morning.
The account has three tweets on its timeline — the first two are retweets, the third is the link to Medium. Among the 27 accounts that Kelly follows are the verified @BernieSanders, @SenSanders and @Peope4Bernie accounts. He also follows @Michigan4Bernie, @BernieTulsi and @TheBern2020.
Among the seven tweets Kelly has liked is an #OrganizeWithBernie-hashtagged tweet by the verified account of Claire Sandberg, who is the national organizing director for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
UPDATE: Hunter Kelly’s posted a new tweet.
I’ve received hundreds of phone calls today from journalists doing dogged reporting. They’ve called my school, my friends, my family and people who barely know me. I’m now sorting through my messages to do an interview about my horrific experience. Please pray for me.
Don’t justify this story by writing about it. I could just as easily go on Twitter and say “Hunter Kelly molested my under-age nephew.” Notice how he came out with this accusation just as Pete is catching up with Bernie in the polls?