Grimm bids on House

SI crook to run

Michael Grimm will announce on Sunday that he’s running for the congressional seat on Staten Island that he gave up after being convicted of tax evasion.

Grimm (inset) has enlisted communications consultant Michael Caputo, who served as a campaign adviser to President Trump, in his comeback attempt next year against GOP incumbent Dan Donovan.

Grimm, a former Marine and FBI agent, served seven months in prison between 2015 and 2016 for falsifying tax returns at a Manhattan restaurant he ran before taking office.

Donovan, the former Staten Island district attorney, won a special election in 2015 to replace Grimm.

Grimm is seeking to portray himself as a Trump Republican and paint Donovan as a liberal for opposing GOP plans to overhaul ObamaCare.

“Two important lessons will come out of this race: there’s a price Republicans like Dan Donovan must pay for constantly opposing President Trump — and New Yorkers still love a comeback story,” said Caputo, who has ties to former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

But another former Staten Island congressman, Vito Fossella, said he’s backing Donovan.

“It would be an uphill battle for Grimm. Dan Donovan is pretty well respected,” Fossella said.

Donovan’s campaign scoffed at Grimm trying to portray himself as a rock-solid conservative.

“We’re not concerned about a convicted felon who was considered the third-most-liberal Republican in Congress,” Donovan campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Proud said.

She also said Grimm lied to the voters about his criminal case.

In another telling sign of headwinds Grimm faces, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said he is in Donovan’s corner.

So even if Grimm were to beat him in the Republican primary, Donovan could run on the Conservative Party line, as well as the Independence Party line.