Just days after pleading guilty to felony tax evasion, Staten Island’s Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) has turned in his resignation. Grimm, of course, is the awful potentially mob-affiliated ex-FBI (who may have not left on good terms) politico who once threatened to break a reporter in half. On Monday night Grimm released the following statement:
“I do not believe that I can continue to be 100 percent effective in the next Congress, and therefore, out of respect for the Office and the people I so proudly represent, it is time for me to start the next chapter of my life.”
It’s a sudden change of tune from December 23, when Grimm pled guilty and said he would “absolutely not” resign. “As I said before, as long as I am able to serve I’m going to serve,” Mr. Grimm had said in a press conference. “As of right now, I’m still in a capacity to serve, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.”
The New York Times credits the reversal on a conversation with House Speaker John Boehner, noting with some snark that “Mr. Boehner appears to have done what a midterm election, constant ridicule in the news media and a guilty plea in federal court in Brooklyn could not: persuade Mr. Grimm to go away.”
Grimm’s resignation takes effect January 5.
(Photo: House Committee on Foreign Affairs)
