The top Republican on the congressional committee that investigated whether
Roger Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs released a report Tuesday
questioning the Democratic majority's conclusion that the seven-time Cy Young
Award winner might have lied in his testimony before the panel last month.
The 109-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, contains details Rep.
Tom Davis believes could challenge the credibility of Brian McNamee, the
personal trainer who testified under oath he injected Clemens with steroids and
human growth hormone from 1998-01.
Republican staff from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
will pass along additional information to the Justice Department. The FBI is
investigating whether Clemens lied to Congress.
"Did Roger Clemens lie to us?" Davis said in a release accompanying the
report.
"Some of the evidence seems to say he did; other information suggests he told
the truth," the Virginia Republican said. "It's a far more complicated picture
than some may want to believe. Memories fade and recollections differ. That's
human nature, not criminal conduct. My concern is the integrity of sworn
statements made to Congress. At this point, the Justice Department is best
equipped to investigate that central question and reach a fair conclusion."
The report includes interviews with new witnesses and addresses issues such
as whether Clemens attended a party at then-teammate Jose Canseco's house in
1998; information about injections of vitamin B-12; and whether Clemens
developed an abscess on his buttocks.
The report "Weighing the Committee Record: A Balanced Review of the Evidence
Regarding Performance Enhancing Drugs in Baseball" stands as a counterpoint to
the 18-page memo released Feb. 27 by chairman Henry Waxman.
That was the day Waxman and Davis asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to
open an investigation into whether Clemens committed perjury. The following day,
the Justice Department told the FBI to take up the matter.
Waxman's memo to Democratic staff outlined the reasons for the criminal
referral, summarizing "seven sets of assertions made by Mr. Clemens in his
testimony that appear to be contradicted by other evidence before the committee
or implausible."
Those areas involve Clemens' testimony that he has "never taken steroids or
HGH"; that McNamee injected him with the painkiller lidocaine; that team
trainers gave him pain injections; that he received many vitamin B-12
injections; that he never discussed HGH with McNamee; that he was not at
Canseco's home from June 8-10, 1998; and that he was "never told" about baseball
investigator George Mitchell's request to speak before Mitchell issued his
report containing McNamee's allegations.
"The Democratic staff memorandum's characterizations and conclusions
regarding these other matters is simply not relevant to the core question of
whether Clemens knowingly lied about using anabolic steroids and human growth
hormone," Tuesday's Republican report said.
Further echoing the partisan nature of the Feb. 13 committee hearing at which
Clemens and McNamee testified, the Republican report said: "More concerning,
however, the Democratic memorandum reads like an advocate's brief or
prosecutorial indictment of Roger Clemens."
Copyright 2008 Associated Press