U.S. representative from New York to resign after tax evasion plea

Michael Grimm, the Republican Party’s lone congressional representative in New York City, announced late Monday night he would resign effective Jan. 5, two weeks after he pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion.

Grimm - who is perhaps best known for threatening to break a reporter in half and throw him off a Capitol Hill balcony - pleaded guilty last week to underreporting his employees' wages when he was owner of Manhattan restaurant Healthalicious, according to the New York Times.

“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," Grimm said in a statement.

Read more from the New York Times.