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GOP Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) was indicted on 20 charges in federal court on Monday.

(Staten island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) got some full-throated support from ally Guy Molinari and radio talk show host Geraldo Rivera on Tuesday.

Appearing on Rivera's radio show on WABC, Molinari called Grimm "a great American" said he was certain that the criminal case against Grimm was a political witch hunt aimed at defeating the only GOP member of the city's House delegation.

"There's no question about that whatsoever," Molinari said.

Grimm on Monday was indicted on 20 counts by federal authorities, including tax evasion, obstruction and perjury over the operation of his old Healthalicious restaurant in Manhattan. Included were charges that Grimm hired undocumented immigrants and paid them off the books in a bid to dodge taxes.

Molinari likened the charges to accusations that the Internal Revenue Service under Democratic President Barack Obama had improperly targeted conservative groups with audits.

"You have the IRS out to get conservative Republicans," Molinari said. "So here we go. It's awful what they're doing to this young man. It's just pathetic."

"With this administration, you're never going to be able to turn your back on them," Molinari said.

He also pointed to how the federal investigation had started as a probe of Grimm's 2010 campaign fundraising, but ended up as a case having to do with Grimm's old restaurant.

"This is their exit strategy," he said of the Justice Department. "This is how they're going to justify two and a half years of work."

Molinari has said that he believes 100 percent that Grimm is innocent.

"He's like my son," Molinari said. "I love this man. I know him backward and forward. He's clean, he's honest and he loves his country."

He also said the feds had previously leaked details of the investigation to the press.

"There are separate rules of engagement for them and for us," he said. "Isn't it a shame that in the United States of America that this kind of thing can happen?"

Rivera, as stalwart in his defense of Grimm than Molinari, if not more so, said the indictment was, "the epitome of selective prosecution" and a "misuse of the federal prosecutor's office."

He said that restaurants in particular hire undocumented immigrants all the time.

He called Grimm a former FBI agent and Gulf War Marine veteran "a hero who has fought for his country."

"Are you kidding me?" Rivera said. "You indict an FBI hero agent ... for hiring undocumented immigrants?"

Rivera said, "I'm sorry, that stinks to me. That stinks to high heaven of politics and a witch hunt."

Rivera called Grimm "my friend" and said, "We have hung out together."

"This is a pathetic, politically motivated witch hunt," Rivera said. "This is appalling. This is insulting."

Bidding farewell to Molinari, Rivera said, "You tell the congressman I have his back."

The Grimm indictment has also become a political football in the gubernatorial campaign, with Democrats challenging GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino and GOP state Edward Cox to call for Grimm's resignation from Congress.

And farther away, New Hampshire GOP House candidate Frank Guinta is turning around a $2,500 contribution his campaign received from Grimm.

The New Hampshire Journal reported that Guinta will donate $2,500 to two non-profits in the Granite State.