WASHINGTON (AP) — An independent advisory office has recommended that the House Ethics Committee investigate charges that a New York congressman threatened to harm a television reporter, but the bipartisan House panel has deferred action, according to documents released Wednesday.
The incident in question involved Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y.
After President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in January, Grimm was captured on camera threatening to throw the reporter off a balcony after an interview in which the journalist had asked Grimm about an FBI probe into his campaign finances. The reporter worked for NY1, a New York City cable news channel.
"There is substantial reason to believe that Representative Grimm threatened a reporter with bodily harm and engaged in a threatening or menacing act that created a fear of immediate injury, in violation of the D.C. code and House rules," said a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
The D.C. code was a reference to laws in the District of Columbia.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent agency that makes recommendations to Congress' ethics committees.
Its board — which does not include members of Congress — voted 6-0 on March 28 to recommend that the House Ethics Committee investigate the incident further, according to the report released Wednesday.
In a separate statement, the 10-member House Ethics Committee said it had voted unanimously on June 18 to defer action on the incident after the Justice Department asked for a delay. The statement did not say why the Justice Department made that request.
A spokesman for Grimm did not immediately return requests for comment left by telephone and email.