A NY1 reporter received a threat of violence last night from a man, who is not only a member of the House of Representatives, but also a former FBI agent.

Michael Scotto, a political reporter for NY1, was asking Grimm about the state of the union address. Scotto then wanted to ask Grimm about a federal investigation into the investigation into his 2010 campaign finances, which just resulted in a close friend of Grimm’s being arrested by the feds. The following is what transpired after that:

“I’m not speaking to you off-topic, this is only about the president,” said Grimm, before walking off camera.

“So Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances,” Scotto said before tossing back to the station. But as the camera continued to roll, Grimm walked back up to Scotto and began speaking to him in a low voice.

“What?” Scotto responded. “I just wanted to ask you…”

Grimm: “Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I’ll throw you off this f—–g balcony.”

Scotto: “Why? I just wanted to ask you…”

[[cross talk]]

Grimm: “If you ever do that to me again…”

Scotto: “Why? Why? It’s a valid question.”

[[cross talk]]

Grimm: “No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.”

Now some may think that Grimm was just having a bad day and blowing off steam. Hell, we all go through that. But here is the statement Grimm released following the altercation:

“I was extremely annoyed because I was doing NY1 a favor by rushing to do their interview first in lieu of several other requests. The reporter knew that I was in a hurry and was only there to comment on the State of the Union, but insisted on taking a disrespectful and cheap shot at the end of the interview, because I did not have time to speak off-topic. I verbally took the reporter to task and told him off, because I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect, especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor. I doubt that I am the first Member of Congress to tell off a reporter, and I am sure I won’t be the last,” reads the statement.

This is a reporter for a major metro television station that covers Grimm’s district, and Grimm acts like he was just doing the reporter a favor. I find that really troubling and if I was a voter in NY, I would be demanding Grimm’s resignation.

But this also goes beyond the voters. Do we want a Capital building, a place that is supposed to be representative of all America, to become a place where Soprano style death threats by out elected leaders is tolerated? I think not, and we haven’t heard anything out of the Republican leadership yet about this. At the least Grimm should be reprimanded by the House, if not censured. This is part of the “responsibility” that we always hear from Republican leaders like John Boehner. Responsibility means taking action against a member in your House, despite what party he is from, to make sure that a message is sent that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. Hopefully we will see the start of that action today.