Rep. Michael Grimm has decided to step down from office after pleading guilty last week to tax fraud, the New York Daily News reported Monday night.
The New York City Republican vowed he wouldn’t quit after his guilty plea Dec. 23 in a Brooklyn federal court. The move came a month after the lawmaker, who represents Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn, was elected to a third term.
But the Daily News, citing unnamed sources, said it learned he changed his mind after speaking Monday to House Speaker John Boehner.
The paper said Grimm plans to announce his resignation Tuesday or Wednesday. A Boehner spokesman contacted by the Washington Examiner late Monday said he couldn’t confirm the report.
Grimm won re-election with 53 percent of the vote over Democrat Domenic Recchia Jr. in November despite facing indictment on 20 counts of federal fraud.
Earlier this year, he pled not guilty to all 20 felony counts, but he later reversed course to accept a plea bargain, setting up his guilty plea last week.
Many Democrats had demanded Grimm step down, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
Should Grimm have remained in Congress, the House Ethics Committee likely would have resumed its investigation of the Republican, which had been put on hold pending the federal case against him.
