Roger Clemens has chosen various ways to strongly deny using steroids or human growth hormone: a taped TV interview, a live news conference and, repeatedly, through his lawyers.
The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was given a chance to address the allegations by his former personal trainer under different circumstances Tuesday.
On Capitol Hill. And under oath.
Clemens was scheduled to give a deposition to lawyers from a congressional committee behind closed doors one day after his former New York Yankees teammate and workout partner Andy Pettitte delivered sworn testimony for about 21?2 hours.
Both pitchers’ private interviews with staff members from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are part of preparation for a Feb. 13 hearing. That public session is expected to focus on allegations made in the Mitchell Report by trainer Brian McNamee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with performance enhancers.
The 45-year-old Clemens ranks eighth in major league history with 354 career wins. He put off retirement yet again in 2007, returning to the Yankees in June and going 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA.
“Roger is not going to take the Fifth Amendment,” one of Clemens’ lawyers, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement e-mailed Monday by spokesman Joe Householder. “He is going to answer the committee’s questions truthfully under oath.”
McNamee is to appear Thursday. One of his lawyers, Earl Ward, said no decision had been made on whether he would submit to a deposition or transcribed interview. It is a crime to lie to Congress, whether sworn to tell the truth or not, so the distinction between the two has more to do with the format of the questioning and the confidentiality of the transcript.
Pettitte, who chose to be deposed, did not take questions from the media afterward as he walked from committee offices to an elevator in the Rayburn House Office Building. Indeed, he only said one word: “No,” in response to whether he would talk to reporters.
Wearing a pinstriped gray suit and bright striped tie, Pettitte was accompanied by his wife and three lawyers.
“At the committee’s request, Andy Pettitte voluntarily met with representatives of the committee this morning, and fully answered all of the inquiries made of him in a sworn deposition,” two of Pettitte’s lawyers, Jay Reisinger and Thomas Farrell, said in a statement. “Out of respect for the sensitive nature of these proceedings, and out of deference to the committee’s request for confidentiality, we, on behalf of Mr. Pettitte, will not comment on the nature or specifics of his testimony.”
Staff members for the committee declined to comment.
McNamee told former Senate majority leader George Mitchell he injected Pettitte with HGH. Pettitte lent credence to Mitchell’s findings by acknowledging two days after the report was released in December that he did try HGH for two days in 2002 to help deal with an elbow injury.
The committee announced Monday it will hold yet another hearing Feb. 12, entitled, “Myths and Facts about Human Growth Hormone, B-12, and Other Substances.” The committee said medical experts will testify about the effects of such substances.
A former Yankees teammate of Pettitte and Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, spoke to committee staff Friday. The day before, an employee of the sports agency that represents Clemens and Pettitte went to Capitol Hill to be interviewed.
McNamee said he injected Clemens with HGH and steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens has repeatedly and vigorously denied that. He did acknowledge he received injections from McNamee, but he said they were for vitamin B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine.
When Mitchell testified at a committee hearing Jan. 15, he was asked whether he was still comfortable with McNamee’s credibility.
“We believe that the statements provided to us were truthful,” Mitchell said.
