BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Rep. Michael Grimm vowed to stay in office after entering a guilty plea Tuesday afternoon to a count of felony tax fraud.

In a short press conference outside the Brooklyn federal courthouse, the Republican congressman said he had no intention of resigning his position.

"Absolutely not," Grimm said when asked by a reporter. "First of all, everything we're talking about here happened before I was in Congress. And for the past four years, I've been a very effective, strong member of Congress that has served the people of Staten Island very well."

Grimm said that entering the guilty plea allowed him to take responsibility for his mistakes.

"The bottom line is I'm the one that made a mistake as a small business owner. I'm the one accepting full responsibility for that," he said. "If you do something wrong, you can never fully get past it until you accept responsibility and that's what I'm doing, taking full responsibility, so I can close this chapter in my life."

He thanked his constituents for their support.

"I know that some are gonna use this to demonize me. They're gonna use this for political purposes like they've done for the last three years. And for every person that has made a negative comment, there's been more than 10-fold that have made very positive comments, have told me that they're keeping me in their prayers, and how they're thinking of me," he said.

He continued: "These wonderful people, these are the hard-working people that I represent, and they have strengthened my resolve to finally bring this terrible chapter of my life to a close. So now as I begin to put this behind me with the comfort of knowing that the government is done criminally investigating me and that all these matters are closed, I remember the outpouring and encouragement of my constituents that Ive been very blessed to have."