Rep. Michael Grimm's headline-grabbing threat to throw an NY1 reporter off a balcony and break him "in half like a boy," is shining a spotlight on the New York Republican's past outbursts and his fiery reputation. Perhaps the most talked about example: A 1999 incident in which he allegedly pulled a gun in a nightclub. According to a 2011 New Yorker article, Grimm, then an FBI agent, came into the club with a woman, only to be confronted by the woman's estranged husband. The three left, only to return later, with Grimm holding a gun.
An off-duty police officer describes Grimm as "carrying on like a madman" and screaming "I'm gonna f---ing kill him," which Grimm denies: "A guy with a gun who knows how to use it doesn't need to say anything," he said. Grimm left without incident, only to return yet again flanked by NYPD officers and another FBI agent. The off-duty officer recalls Grimm saying, "Everybody get up against the f---ing wall," and then, in an apparent bid to find the husband he'd quarreled with, "All the white people get out of here." Other witnesses confirmed some details of the incident. Other confrontations that have come out of the woodwork:
- NY1 political director Bob Hardt says Grimm erupted off-camera following a December 2012 interview, again due to questions about the campaign finance allegations around him. "Grimm became red-faced and started yelling … alluding to settling the issue by 'taking it outside,'" Hardt writes.
- Marin Cogan at the National Journal says Grimm called to scream at her after a quote he gave her in March 2011 drew Tea Party backlash, saying he "did not serve 10 years in the FBI" to put up with this. "At no time did I feel threatened," Cogan writes, "although that seemed pretty clearly to me to be what he was trying to accomplish."
(More
Michael Grimm stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
