Hotheaded Rep. Michael Grimm cooled off and apologized Wednesday for threatening to beat up a TV reporter, bluntly admitting “I was wrong” for saying he would toss the newsman from a balcony.
Grimm said was tired and cranky when he threatened to toss a TV reporter over a balcony after a whirlwind day serving constituents.
“It was a long day; the fact that I was fighting for flood insurance all day, the fact that I ran into the Capitol Rotunda. I was out of breath,” the Staten Island congressman told NBC.
“I shouldn’t have allowed my emotions to get the better of me and lose my cool,” Grimm (R-SI) said in a statement issued just 13 hours after he went ballistic and told NY1′s Michael Scotto he would “break you in half.”
Sotto had tried to ask him about recent campaign-finance allegations during an interview after the State of the Union address in Washington Tuesday night..
“I have apologized to Michael Scotto, which he graciously accepted, and will be scheduling a lunch soon,” Grimm said. “In the weeks and months ahead I’ll be working hard for my constituents on issues like flood insurance that is so desperately needed in my district post Sandy.”
Grimm’s abrupt change of heart – he vigorously defended his actions immediately after the incident – came as the video of the incident went viral and the potential political damage came into focus.
Domenic Recchia, a Democrat challenging Grimm in this year’s election, pounced on his rival.
“Michael Grimm’s behavior last night was disgraceful, completely unacceptable, and un-befitting of a United States Congressman,” he said. “Using threats of physical violence to intimidate the press from doing their jobs is against everything our country– and our government–stands for, and is a shameful abuse of power.”
Mayor de Blasio also weighed in Wednesday, condemning Grimm’s antics.
“Absolutely inappropriate. To physically threaten someone – that’s something no public servant should do,” Hizzoner said.
“A leader can’t do that… And if a leader does that, those in power, those in the leadership structure, have to speak out.
So I would hope the House leadership says very strongly [that] this is unacceptable behavior,” he said.
The Staten Island Republican was in the rotunda of the Cannon Office Building discussing on camera the president’s speech with Scotto when the reporter tried to ask him about recent campaign-finance allegations.
Grimm stormed off, and Scotto explained that he wanted Grimm to address financial shenanigans surrounding the congressman’s 2010 campaign. Seconds later, Grimm charged back and got in Scotto’s face.
“Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this f–king balcony,” Grimm said. “You’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.”
Later, Grimm insisted that the reporter “took a cheap shot” at him.
“I was annoyed. I was doing them a favor,” Grimm told The Post. “The reporter took a cheap shot at the end and I verbally took him to task. I was angry and I had every right to be.”
Grimm said he was on a tight schedule and had previously told NY1 that he was only going to discuss the speech.
When asked about the balcony-throwing threat, Grimm would not deny it.
“He blew it out of proportion,” Grimm said at the time.
A former Grimm staffer told The Post that the congressman was a hothead who takes his rages out on journalists.
“Grimm has anger issues,” the staffer said. “This is not the first time he’s tried to intimidate a reporter.”