February 13, 2008
House Panel Plays Hardball With Clemens
At a charged hearing today, Major League Baseball star Roger Clemens testified under oath that he has never used steroids or human growth hormone, even as House Oversight and Government Reform members charged that the pitcher had lied to the committee about his drug use.
"As we moved forward in our investigation, we found conflicts and inconsistencies in Mr. Clemens' account," Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman said. "During his deposition, he made statements that we know are untrue.... In other areas, his statements are contradicted by other credible witnesses or simply implausible."
The hearing, the second the committee has held on steroids and other drugs in Major League Baseball, featured contradictory statements by the seven-time Cy Young Award winner and his former trainer, Brian McNamee. McNamee told the panel today he had injected Clemens more than 20 times with steroids or human growth hormone. Clemens said he never took either drug, but was injected with vitamin B-12 and painkillers.
"Someone is lying in spectacular fashion," Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Tom Davis, R-Va., summarized. It is unclear if the committee will charge either man with perjury.
Committee members said Clemens and McNamee have made misleading statements about drug use in baseball. McNamee said he initially understated to federal investigators the number of times he injected players with HGH. He acknowledged lying to police about an unrelated incident in Florida in 2001.
The committee did not produce new evidence tying Clemens to performance-enhancing drugs, but Waxman said McNamee's testimony on Clemens' HGH use is backed by sworn statements by Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte. In an affidavit, Pettitte said Clemens in 1999 or 2000 "told me he used HGH." Pettitte said that when he asked Clemens about that statement in 2005, Clemens said Pettitte had misunderstood. Clemens purportedly said he had been referring to his wife, Debra, receiving an HGH injection from McNamee.
But Waxman noted both McNamee and Clemens said Debra Clemens received an injection in 2003 -- making Roger Clemens' version of events impossible. Clemens said Pettitte "misremembered" both conversations.
Rep. John Tierney, D- Mass., said Clemens stated in a prehearing deposition that he never discussed HGH with McNamee. Clemens later in the deposition acknowledged speaking with McNamee about HGH after his wife had a bad reaction to her 2003 shot. Clemens said he had meant he had not had a "detailed conversation" about HGH with McNamee.
Waxman accused Clemens of meeting with his former maid about her pending interview with the committee before sharing her contact information with the committee. The incident "sure raises the question of impropriety," Waxman said, drawing heated reaction from Clemens' representatives.
"Your statement... is nothing but innuendo," Clemens' attorney Lanny Breuer said, as he stood behind Clemens. In an apparent partisan divide, Republicans, including Davis and Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., focused on McNamee's credibility.
"I don't know what to believe," Burton told McNamee. "But I know one thing I don't believe, and that's you."
The hearing included often emotional testimony. McNamee apologized for helping "taint our national pastime." Clemens referred repeatedly to values of honesty and hard work instilled by his mother. He said the charges against him "are not going to break my spirit."
-Dan Friedman, CongressDaily
