President Donald Trump has pardoned former New York Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican who resigned after being convicted of tax fraud, the White House official confirmed to USA TODAY on background.
Grimm who represented Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn in Congress from 2011 to 2015, pleaded guilty in December 2014 to tax fraud, stemming from a restaurant he owned in Manhattan. He had won reelection the previous month despite facing charges including perjury and allegedly purposely hiring undocumented immigrants.
A former FBI agent, Grimm was sentenced to eight months in prison. He served seven months in prison and one under house arrest.
In October 2017, Grimm tried staging a political comeback by campaigning for his old House seat in New York. Then-President Trump endorsed his opponent, incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan, in the primary and Grimm ended up losing the election.
An avid polo player for years, Grimm was injured from his chest down after being thrown from a horse in September 2024.
In 2014, he was caught on camera threatening an NY 1 TV reporter in a balcony hallway of the U.S. Capitol building. When the reporter, who had been interviewing Grimm moments after the 2014 State of the Union Address, asked him a question about a campaign finance investigation into him, Grimm declined to answer the question.
Grimm then threatened to the throw the reporter off a balcony and told him: ““You’re not a man,” and “I could break you in half.”
Grimm later apologized to the reporter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pardons former Rep. Michael Grimm who was convicted of tax fraud
